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Iraq Says It's No Afghanistan, U.S. Piles on Pressure
Friday, August 30, 2002
By Nadim Ladki
Reuters

White House spokesman Scott McClellan repeated U.S. insistence that Iraq carry out commitments made after the 1991 Gulf War to disarm, and that inspections were not the ultimate goal of U.S. policy. "This is not just about inspections. This is about disarmament. This is about the continuing threat that the regime in Iraq poses not only to others in the Middle East but the world and the United States as well."

AMMAN -- Reuters
Iraq said on Friday the United States would not be able to topple President Saddam Hussein the same way it overthrew Afghanistan's Taliban, as Washington demanded Iraq disarm "now" and ruled out any talks.

The United States ignored calls for a new U.N. Security Council resolution to approve any American military action against Iraq while key ally British Prime Minister Tony Blair faced opposition from his own party to a U.S.-led attack.

"The United States' position is that the Iraqi regime needs to abide by its obligations -- there is no room for negotiations or discussion -- they need to do so and do so now," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters with President Bush on his August vacation.

In a sign of rising tension, U.S. jets attacked an anti-aircraft missile site in a "no-fly" zone over southern Iraq in response to what the U.S. military said were repeated Iraqi attempts to shoot down American and British jets patrolling the zone. It was the eighth raid in less than two weeks.

A top U.N. arms inspector also said Iraqi reluctance to allow new inspections could suggest it may be hiding biological weapons.

Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan said Washington knew it would not be able to overthrow Saddam the same way it ousted the Taliban. "We don't want to compare the two; Iraq is not Afghanistan," Ramadan told reporters in Beirut. "I believe that the U.S. administration is convinced of that."

* EU MINISTERS DEBATE IRAQ
* IRAQ HIDING WEAPONS?
(More: The Miami Herald News Source)
2002 © Reuters, Ltd.

Dan