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Bush Uses Horse Trading to Buy Support for Iraq Attack
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Bush
is using cards to pressure nations into supporting his military
campaign on Iraq
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WASHINGTON
, September 14 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - After struggling for
months to talk other nations into supporting his military campaign on
Iraq
, U.S. President George W. Bush began using cards they might find easier
to understand: cash, weapons, business deals and favors, a big
U.S.
paper reported
Saturday, September 14, 2002
.
According
to Los Angeles Times, Bush's speech Thursday, September 12, before the
General Assembly of the United Nations marked the start of intense
behind-the-scenes negotiations to see what "inducements will help
convert countries that so far have been balking, at least publicly, at
joining the
U.S.
campaign to strike
Iraq
".
The
administration's initial focus will be on members of the United Nations
Security Council, notably
Russia
,
France
and
China
, officials say. Their backing will be important soon, as the
United States
tries to persuade the council to enforce resolutions demanding that
Iraq
abandon its (alleged) chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs.
Baghdad
insists that it possesses no mass destruction weapons, and further
challenged the
U.S.
to come up with any solid evidence to the opposite.
On
Saturday, September 14, 2002
,
Iraq
's official press accused Bush of deliberately lying to the United
Nations to win support for a
U.S.
war on
Baghdad
, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Bush's
speech Thursday was "nothing but a dangerous chapter in a
perfidious
U.S.
game intended to deceive and maneuver to achieve its aggressive aims
under the cover of the Security Council," said Al-Qadissiya daily.
Washington
"does not respect the Security Council and attaches little
importance to international law," the newspaper charged.
The
daily said Bush had been "forced to make his speech to the
UN," because of growing world opposition to his plans to attack
Iraq
.
According
to the Los Angeles Times, "
U.S.
officials expect the Turks to ask for weapons and debt relief, the
Russians and French for access to Iraqi oilfield business, the Qataris
for cash to build an air base, and the Jordanians for guarantees of oil
and trade. Officials expect many other countries to join the horse
trading, and predict that they won't be shy".
"Countries
in the
Middle East
take the bazaari approach," said Danielle Pletka, a former Senate
aide who now works at the American Enterprise Institute for Public
Policy Research. "Once they know we want to buy ... the sky's the
limit," the paper reported.
A
senior congressional aide said, "This is a great time to step
forward and get something you want from the
United States
."
However,
U.S.
officials will also try to persuade many other countries in the
Middle East
and farther a field to cooperate with a military campaign, or at least
to temper their opposition.
The
Pentagon still needs to win commitments from countries near
Iraq
for use of military bases and over flight rights.
The
effort mirrors
U.S.
coalition-building before the 1991 Gulf War, and before the
U.S.
assault last fall on
Afghanistan
. Yet this job promises to be considerably tougher, because many nations
are skeptical of the need for war, and the
United States
doesn't have access to the billions of dollars that
Saudi Arabia
,
Kuwait
and others contributed to the 1991 Gulf War campaign.
"The
horse trading will be much more difficult this time," predicted
Edward S. Walker Jr., a former Assistant Secretary of State for the
Middle East
who is now president of the Middle East Institute.
"Part
of what you've been seeing is people making a public display of
opposition that will increase the price," he said.
Most
countries resent any suggestion that their support can be bought. These
countries insist that such deals are needed simply to reduce the
economic costs and political risks of cooperation.
Turkish
officials were furious last winter when former Clinton political guru
Dick Morris declared on American TV that the U.S. bought their nation's
military cooperation over time by pressing for a generous International
Monetary Fund loan program.
"They
were outraged," said Bulent Aliriza, a Turkish expert and former
specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in
Washington
. "It's precisely the wrong image."
Turkey
's strategic location and frequent cooperation have made it
America
's most important military partner in the region. The Turks contend that
their participation this time would add a huge burden at a time when
their country is trying to cope with crushing economic problems. They
are also deeply worried that war with
Iraq
might lead to an independent Kurdish state that would threaten their own
eastern territory.
Accordingly,
they have a long wish list, including advanced weapons, relief on their
$5-billion debt to the
U.S.
for weapons purchases, and help from the
United States
in ensuring that
Turkey
continues to receive IMF credits,
U.S.
officials say. Some Turkish officials have also pressed the
United States
to ensure that any military campaign doesn't take place in the summer,
when it could damage the country's tourist industry.
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