US weighing military options

WASHINGTON, NOV 2: The United States is weighing military options against Iraq following Baghdad's decision to end all cooperation with UN w...

WASHINGTON, NOV 2: The United States is weighing military options against Iraq following Baghdad’s decision to end all cooperation with UN weapons inspectors and halt its activities.

“Military action against Baghdad remained an option,” US Defence Secretary William Cohen warned yesterday.

“The Pentagon’s preference is that the US, having received some sort of backing from the UN, tells Iraq to permit inspection of a given facility, and then, if Baghdad refuses, destroy the facility,” the Wall Street Journal quoted a US defence official involved in Iraq policy as saying.

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The 250-member national assembly in Iraq at an emergency session today “forcefully backed the Iraqi leadership’s decision to end all cooperation with UNSCOM and its chief and halt its activities in Iraq.”

Meanwhile, Moscow expressed “deep concern” over Iraq’s decision and called on Baghdad to “scrupulously reconsider all the negative consequences of a decision which could seriously aggravate the situation in the regionagain.” Quoting a Russian foreign ministry statement, Itar-Tass agency said: “Only the full resumption of constructive cooperation with UN, including UNSCOM, can allow a settling of the Iraqi situation and the return of its people to a normal life.”

Meanwhile, Britain said it would support the use of force to make Iraq comply with UN resolutions on arms inspections, a spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair said today.

The Journal said the Pentagon wants to avoid a repeat of recent confrontation with Serb leader Milosevic with Iraq. “The US most likely will seek to get as much UN support as possible and then it will give one warning before acting,” the paper quoted a Pentagon official as saying. Congress has voted funds to arm the Iraqi opposition.