US President George W. Bush on Friday defended his Iraq policy from criticism within his own Republican Party, saying he would consult with others but make decisions based on the "latest intelligence."
Bush has made ousting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein one of his top priorities, but dissent from within his own political ranks has persisted.
The national security adviser during Bush's father's presidency said on Thursday an attack on the oil-producing nation could alienate US allies.
Bush characterized that dissent as a healthy debate, but left no doubt about his opinion.
"I listened carefully to what they have to say," Bush said. "There should be no doubt in anybody's mind that this man [Saddam] is thumbing his nose at the world, that he has gassed his own people, that he is trouble in his neighborhood, that he desires weapons of mass destruction."
Former US national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, a key member of the previous Bush administration who helped build a coalition for the Gulf War against Iraq, reiterated his concerns in a Thursday Wall Street Journal opinion piece.
"An attack on Iraq at this time would seriously jeopardize, if not destroy, the global counter-terrorist campaign we have undertaken," Scowcroft wrote.
"There is a virtual consensus in the world against an attack on Iraq at this time. So long as that sentiment persists, it would require the US to pursue a virtual go-it-alone strategy against Iraq, making any military operations correspondingly more difficult and expensive," he continued.
Other key Republicans have also voiced concern, warning that Bush has failed to make a strong case for an attack on Iraq and that a war could undermine the US fight against global terrorism and destabilize the Middle East even further.
US House of Representatives Majority Leader Dick Armey has said the US has no business attacking the oil exporter without sufficient provocation.
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
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