US Secretary of State Colin Powell told skeptical Europeans yesterday the US was willing to attack Iraq alone if the UN Security Council shrank from disarming President Saddam Hussein.
In a speech to muster European support for a tough line against Iraq, Powell made few concessions to European doubts about the wisdom of invading the country while UN inspectors are still searching for suspected weapons of mass destruction.
He mixed reassurances that the George W. Bush administration would be patient and consult its allies with warnings that time was short and Washington would not wait for ever.
"We are in no great rush to judgment today or tomorrow but it's clear that time is running out," he told a gathering of business and political leaders in the Swiss town of Davos.
"Multilateralism cannot become an excuse for inaction," Powell added, referring to opposition to an early war among key veto-holding members of the UN Security Council, France, China and Russia.
"We will work through these issues patiently and deliberately with our friends and allies ... Let the Iraqi regime have no doubt, however. If it does not disarm peacefully at this juncture, it will be disarmed at the end of the road," he said.
"We will not shrink from war if that is the only way to rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction. We continue to reserve our sovereign right to take military action against Iraq alone or in a coalition of the willing," he added.
Powell said Saddam had "clear ties to terrorist groups including al-Qaeda" and had not yet made a strategic decision to comply with his obligation to disarm under a UN resolution passed in November.
He offered no evidence of the disputed link to al-Qaeda, the Islamic militant network which Washington blames for the Sept. 11, 2001, suicide hijacker attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.
Powell put the US argument, repeated at every opportunity throughout last week, that UN resolution 1441 demands that Iraq disarm voluntarily -- not that it merely lets UN weapons inspectors scour a country the size of California for weapons.
"It is not a matter of time alone, it is a matter of telling the truth, and Saddam Hussein still responds with evasions and lies. Saddam should tell the truth now," he said.
He also sought to counter suspicions that the Bush administration has hidden motives linked to oil for attacking Iraq, citing US military interventions in Kuwait in 1991, in the Balkans in the 1990s and in Afghanistan in 2001.
The American argument has so far failed to win over many Arab and European leaders, who predict drastic consequences for the Middle East if US forces invade Iraq, or public opinion.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said on Saturday a US-led war against Iraq would likely inflame the Middle East, fuelling popular anger and anti-American unrest.
"It will add to the frustration and the agitation of the people in the Middle East because of the catastrophic situation in the occupied [Palestinian] territories, and the double standard followed by the policy of the United States in the Arab world," he said.
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
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