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| Nieuwe Oorlog 2002 / Ander Nieuws week 12 |
Mideast allies warn U.S. not to attack Iraq Washington Post
March 11, 2002
By Howard Schneider, Washington Post Foreign ServiceCAIRO, March 10 Jordan and Turkey warned the United States today that a military strike against their neighbor Iraq could destabilize the region and undermine the economies of two of Washington's closest allies in the Muslim world.
The warnings from two countries whose cooperation would be essential for any attack on Iraq came as Vice President Cheney flew to London to begin a 10-day trip to the Middle East to bolster support for the campaign against the al Qaeda terrorist network.
The comments by Jordan's King Abdullah and Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit represent a growing consensus among regional leaders that the risks of an attack on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein far outweigh any threat he may pose. In contrast to the coalition built during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, this opposition could greatly complicate any assault.
President Bush has labeled Iraq part of an "axis of evil" along with Iran and North Korea and has said it must face unspecified consequences if it does not allow U.N. inspectors back into the country to determine whether it possesses or is developing weapons of mass destruction.
"An attack on Iraq will seriously affect Turkey. . . . Turkey's economy is resting on very sensitive balances," including a $16 billion International Monetary Fund bailout, Ecevit said in an interview on state-run television.
"While the Iraq issue hangs over us like some kind of nightmare, you can't expect much new investment to come to Turkey," Iraq's neighbor to the West, he said.
Ecevit said he planned to discuss his concerns about an attack on Iraq "very openly" with Cheney when the vice president visits Turkey on March 19. U.S. planes stationed at Turkey's Incirlik Air Base would likely be involved in any large-scale assault on Iraq, and the country could also serve as a base for Iraqi opposition groups.
Jordan likewise could serve as a host for dissident Iraqi politicians planning a new government. Cheney is scheduled to visit Amman on Tuesday. He was preceded there today by Izzat Ibrahim, vice chairman of Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council, who briefed Abdullah on recent talks with the United Nations about the possibility of allowing weapons inspectors to return a development that could forestall a U.S. attack.
Abdullah said afterward that "striking Iraq represents a catastrophe to Iraq and the region in general and threatens the security and stability of the region," the official PETRA news agency reported. The king "stressed Jordan's rejection of using force against Iraq," the agency said.
Cheney is likely to hear a similar refrain throughout the region as he tours nine Arab countries, Israel and Turkey the highest-level U.S. visit to the Middle East since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
While Bush has indicated a willingness to pursue efforts against Hussein without the help of a coalition, regional officials and diplomats have become increasingly vocal in arguing that the safer strategy is to continue containing Iraq and allowing the Hussein government to atrophy.
Though hardly enamored of Hussein many Arab officials agree the region would be better off without him they are wary of the reaction any U.S. military action would spark in their countries, especially at a time when U.S. bombers are still active in Afghanistan and when Israel and the Palestinians remain at violent odds.
Arab leaders are also worried about Iraq's potential response, and the possibility that the country could fracture along ethnic lines leaving Turkey with a new Kurdish state on its border that might spark unrest among its own Kurds, and leaving mainly Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia with an area to its north susceptible to Iranian-style Shiite militancy.
Iraq, under the U.N. oil-for-food program, has rebuilt trade ties with many countries in the region, and in the case of Jordan, supplies all of the country's petroleum, essentially for free.
Opposition to a military campaign against Iraq was a key theme of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's recent trip to the United States, and such a campaign also has been openly opposed by Saudi Arabia's leaders.