Powell threatens to launch more raids against Iraq

The US secretary of state Colin Powell has stressed on Wednesday that the US will continue its military strikes against any position or activity which has link to the mass destruction weapons.

Powell said before the foreign affairs committee at the US Congress that reconsidering the system of sanctions imposed on Iraq does not mean alleviating these sanctions, saying that the modified Iraq sanctions policy will prevent Iraq from acquiring weapons of mass destruction but allow Iraqi civilians to obtain needed consumer goods.

"We will keep them from developing their military capability again, just the way we have for the last ten years, but we will not be the ones to blame because the Iraqi people, it is claimed, are not getting what they need to take care of their children or to take care of their needs," Powell said at a press conference with Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh in Washington March 6.

He added "The sanctions policy was collapsing before our eyes, and this is an effort -- and I think it will be a successful effort -- to stabilize it and get it to a new altitude that will serve our purpose, an altitude where we know at that altitude we will keep them from moving toward weapons of mass destruction, and we will keep them from developing their military capability again."

During his tour on the Arab Gulf states in February Powell said that Washington wants to reconsider the imposed sanctions system prescribed on Iraq because of the increasing criticism against it.