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Iraq Part of Global War on Terrorism, Rumsfeld Says
Thursday, September 19, 2002
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

Rumsfeld told the senators two inspection regimes are in play -- ground inspections and air inspections. Iraq threw ground inspectors out in 1998. "The air inspections -- operations Northern Watch and Southern Watch -- have been flying at the risk of their lives," he said. "Since delivering the letter promising unconditional access, (the Iraqis) have fired at coalition aircraft somewhere between 15 and 20 times -- a considerable increase from the period before the letter."

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
Iraq is not separate from the global war on terrorism, it is part of it, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee today.

The secretary and Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, returned to Capitol Hill for the second time in two days to discuss the Bush administration's position on Iraq.

Rumsfeld said stopping rogue states from developing and using weapons of mass destruction is a key aspect of the global war on terrorism. "We can fight the various elements of the global war on terror simultaneously," he said.

He stressed that Bush has not made a decision on use of force against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. But he said the administration continues to believe that Iraq is a "grave and growing danger" to the United States and the world.

Rumsfeld said that while other nations are dangerous and are looking at weapons of mass destruction, no terrorist state in the world poses a more immediate threat to the security of America than the regime of Saddam Hussein.

He urged the senators to work with the president and members of the House to craft a resolution insisting that Iraq comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions. He said delay would signal Hussein that he can continue to violate the will of the world -- expressed through the United Nations -- with impunity.
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

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