From: joedees@bellsouth.net
Date: Thu Aug 01 2002 - 18:32:26 MDT
On 1 Aug 2002 at 19:12, Sandra Brown wrote:
> Mr. Dees,
>
> Here are the articles you requested:
>
> Sooner or later, America
> must deal with Saddam
>
> John Yaukey
> Gannett News Service
> WASHINGTON It's not a question of whether Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein
> wants nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction he does.
> It's not whether he has the will to use them he does.
> What's shaping the debate over U.S. options against Saddam is whether
> efforts to contain him are failing and, if so, how he should be dealt with.
> A panel of experts told senators Wednesday what the Bush administration has
> been saying for months that containment is failing and that ''regime
> change'' is rapidly emerging as the only viable option.
> ''Limiting Iraq's access to technology is bound to fail,'' Iraqi physicist
> Khidhir Hamza told a Senate committee holding the first of many hearings
> this summer and fall on U.S. options in Iraq. ''The U.S. cannot police the
> transfer of technology in the age of the Internet. The threats are too
> widespread.''
>
> The threat
> Saddam had substantial supplies of chemical weapons before the Persian Gulf
> War, but it's not known how extensive his arsenal is now.
> UNSCOM, the United Nations delegation assigned to inspect Iraq for weapons
> of mass destruction as part of the Gulf War resolution, found most of the
> arsenal and destroyed it.
> <P>Former UNSCOM Chairman Richard Butler, however, told lawmakers that Iraq
> has 20 years of experience making chemical weapons and extensive knowledge
> of how to hide production facilities from inspectors and spy satellites.
> ''UNSCOM was able to account for a substantial portion of Iraq's holdings
> and manufacturing capability, but not all of it,'' he said.
> UNSCOM was expelled from Iraq in 1998.
> Inspections after the Gulf War also revealed Iraq had large stores of
> biological weapons, including anthrax bacteria, and was experimenting with
> ways to deliver them, such as missiles and drone aircraft.
> Perhaps most worrisome, lawmakers were told, is Iraq's desire for nuclear
> weapons and its growing capability to make them.
> Butler said Iraq has the equipment and knowledge now. And both he and Hamza
> warned it's likely Iraq would have enough nuclear materials to make several
> small weapons by 2005 if Saddam stays in power. That would prompt Iraq to
> act even more aggressively in the Arab world and against Israel, they said.
>
> The options
> A steady stream of leaks from the Pentagon has revealed a menu of options
> for the Bush administration and Congress, ranging from continued inspections
> to a major invasion.
> Inspections were successful immediately following the Gulf War, but Saddam
> found increasingly clever ways to thwart them.
> ''Ideally, what you would like is a resumption of inspection and arms
> control,'' Butler said. ''But not if it means the shell game again.''
> Most of the other options now being debated involve toppling Saddam by
> force.
> The most conventional military option essentially entails a replay of the
> Gulf War, but on a smaller scale: 250,000 mostly U.S. troops supported by
> heavy air strikes launched from surrounding allies, including possibly
> Turkey and Jordan.
> <P>Another more limited option would involve conducting intense air strikes
> against Baghdad and other key targets and airdropping special forces for
> surgical raids. The goal would be to trigger an implosion of Saddam's
> regime, ideally before he could use any chemical or biological weapons.
> The least invasive option would be to promote rebellion among the opposition
> in Iraq, as was done with the Northern Alliance against the Taliban in
> Afghanistan. But critics point out that attempts to overthrow Saddam through
> these groups have failed in the past because of insufficient U.S. support,
> which has left them skeptical about trying again.
> What's more, the Iraqi Republican Guard is a far more disciplined and
> formidable military force than the tribal Taliban. Saddam's heavily
> fortified internal security also raises doubts about the potential for a
> successful coup.
> Whatever happens, congressional leadership has stressed it wants a role in
> making the final decision.
> Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said there is a ''growing sense, both
> within the United States and abroad, that the Bush administration is poised
> to launch a major military offensive against Iraq.''
> The Bush administration insists it has not adopted any plans, but its
> rhetoric indicates it has concluded that Saddam must go sooner rather than
> later.
> ''If we wait for threats to materialize, we will have waited too long,''
> said Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Marshall Billingslea. ''The future
> is ours to lose.''
>
>
>
> Second article:
>
> Lawmakers
> exploring
> Iraq attack
> Official doubts Saddam would share weapons
>
> Associated Press
> WASHINGTON Saddam Hussein continues to develop chemical and biological
> weapons and to seek nuclear weapons, but the Iraqi president is unlikely to
> share those arms with terror groups like al-Qaida, the former chief U.N.
> weapons inspector in Iraq told a Senate panel Wednesday.
> I have seen no evidence of Iraq providing weapons of mass destruction to
> non-Iraqi terrorist groups,'' Richard Butler told the Senate Foreign
> Relations Committee.
> The committee was exploring the threat posed by Iraq, whether military force
> should be used to remove Saddam from power, whether U.S. allies would back a
> military strike and who would succeed Saddam if he is ousted.
> In short, we need to weigh the risks of action versus inaction,'' said the
> committee chairman, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del.
> White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said President Bush does not view the
> situation in Iraq as a problem for the United States to take on alone. The
> president thinks that Iraq presents a worldwide problem to peace,''
> Fleischer said.
> <P>Biden said he did not ask Bush administration officials to testify to
> avoid interfering with their internal debate on Iraq but would likely call
> them for a future hearing. He urged the administration to lay out in advance
> how it would deal with the aftermath of a military campaign to remove
> Saddam, citing U.S. actions in Afghanistan to make his point.
> The war was prosecuted exceptionally well in my view, but the
> follow-through ... has, in my judgment, fallen short,'' he said. It would
> be a tragedy if we removed a tyrant in Iraq, only to leave chaos.''
> Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., noted the 1991 Persian Gulf war had strong
> support from the American public and U.S. allies, who paid most of the
> financial costs, and added, We have not yet determined if these same
> conditions are present today.''
> The administration says Iraq is developing weapons of mass destruction that
> could threaten Iraq's neighbors and the United States. While offering no
> evidence of an Iraqi link to the Sept. 11 attacks, officials have said
> Saddam has ties to terrorists and could share his weapons with them.
> But Butler said he doubts that would happen, even though Iraq has trained
> terrorists and carried out its own terrorist operations.
> I suspect that given his psychology and aspirations, Saddam would be
> reluctant to share what he believes to be an indelible source of his
> power,'' he said.
> Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., told reporters Wednesday that he
> suspects members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida are in Iraq.
> The issue is relevant to whether Bush would need to seek Congress' backing
> for a military campaign against Iraq. Democrats say Bush should seek a
> congressional resolution. But Lott noted that Congress has already
> authorized Bush to pursue al-Qaida.
> Lott said seeking a congressional resolution would be like saying Mr.
> Saddam Hussein, we're coming, we're coming, get ready.''
> <P>But Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said he is unaware of any
> intelligence that al-Qaida is in Iraq.
> It would be a big mistake for the president to act without Congress,'' he
> said. There has to be a debate.''
> Iraq analysts appearing before the committee agreed on the dangers Saddam
> posed, but were divided about what the U.S. response should be.
> Butler suggested the United States work closely with Russia to pressure Iraq
> to accept a serious weapons inspection program. Iraq has refused to allow
> the return of inspectors, who left ahead of 1998 allied airstrikes that
> punished Iraq for blocking inspections.
> But Khidhir Hamza, an Iraqi nuclear physicist who defected in 1994, said it
> is unlikely inspectors could uncover hidden weapons development programs.
> With no large easily distinguishable nuclear sites and little or no human
> intelligence, it is difficult to see how any measure short of a regime
> change will be effective,'' he said.
>
>
> I hope these articles help.
>
> Sandra Brown
> sandrabrown@penacolanewsjournal.com
>
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