Bush, Blair to draw final touches on military attack against Iraq
Iraq-UK, Politics, 2/25/2002

The British weekly "the Observer" said that the US President George Bush will hold a summit meeting with the British prime minister Tony Blair in Washington in April in order to draw the final touches on plans to carry out a military action against Iraq.

An official at Blair's office told the paper that "The meeting will be to finalise Phase Two of the war against terrorism," and that "Action against Iraq will be at the top of the agenda," adding that Blair will show evidence of Iraq's capabilities in the nuclear field.

A Number 10 British official said that "It was a 'public persuasion' issue," and that evidence will be shown that "Saddam is attempting to amass rudimentary nuclear capabilities and is also investigating a way to launch 'dirty' nuclear bombs," the Observer said.

However, "Intelligence officials in Britain have told The Observer that there is concern about over-committing in Iraq and of making military promises that cannot be kept." This comes amid similar military concern made by officials in the US Pentagon to the daily Washington Post saying "Our objectives in Iraq can only be met with forces on the ground."

The Washington Post reports yesterday that "the military reality is that it could take up to a year before the United States is ready to launch a coordinated assault likely to achieve the administration's goals of destroying Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capability and replacing Hussein's regime."

The Washington Post quoted sources as saying "the White House believes that complete, unqualified success in any campaign against Iraq is far more crucial -- politically, militarily and diplomatically -- than the need to act quickly in the absence of an immediate provocation." And that "much of the rest of the world, including countries whose support is seen as critical, remains skeptical or openly hostile to a direct attack."

The Washington Post said "the administration has developed a strategy of short- and long-term actions designed to ensure that all the elements it sees as necessary for success eventually will converge."

Previous Stories:
  Iraq intercepts American, British planes   (2/23/2002)
  Europe will not support a U.S. attack on Iraq   (2/22/2002)
  The scenarios of striking Iraq   (2/20/2002)
  No links between September attacks at the US and Iraq, Straw says   (12/21/2001)
  British defense minister: No evidence on Iraq's involvement in US attacks   (12/10/2001)
  Blair refuses calls to launch military operations against Iraq   (12/1/2001)

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