Steve Quayle News Alerts

June 7 2002

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has singled out Iraq in calling for a decisive response to counter a growing danger of terrorist groups acquiring weapons of mass destruction from sympathetic states.

"This gathering danger requires the most careful, deliberate and decisive response by America and our allies," Cheney said in a speech to the National Association of Homebuilders.

His comments added to a drumbeat of U.S. signals of potential new military action in the U.S.-led war on terrorism. But they went a step further in singling out Iraq than U.S. President George W. Bush's statement on Saturday that Americans must be ready for "preemptive action" against threats to the country.

Bush did not mention Iraq, which he has labelled as part of an "axis of evil" bent on acquiring weapons of mass destruction, in those comments at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Cheney reiterated U.S. concerns over the possibility militant groups such as al Qaeda, blamed for the September 11 attacks on the United States, would "link up" with governments developing weapons of mass destruction.

"In the case of (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein, we have a dictator who is clearly pursuing these deadly capabilities," Cheney said. "Saddam has also shown that he's willing to use weapons of mass destruction.

"A regime that hates America and everything we stand for must never be permitted to threaten America with weapons of mass destruction," he said.

Cheney has used similar language regarding Iraq in other recent speeches, but coupled with Bush's call for preemptive action, they underscore the U.S. determination against Iraq.

"As President Bush said the other day up at West Point, in the world we have entered, the only path to safety is the path of action. And this nation will act," Cheney said.

Bush said last month he was considering all options with respect to Iraq but did not currently have "military plans on my desk."

NATO ALLIES

European NATO allies, led by France and Germany, have been reluctant to endorse military action against Iraq, while Arab nations insist that a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must come first.

U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in Brussels on Thursday NATO could not wait until it had absolute proof of a threat to act against terrorists aggressively seeking biological, chemical and nuclear weapons.

He told NATO it must improve its protective measures and go on the offensive because a terror attack could occur at any time.

"Absolute proof cannot be precondition for action," Rumsfeld told NATO Defence ministers at a closed-door meeting in Brussels, according to an outline of his presentation.

The ministers discussed specific countries that Washington says are developing weapons of mass destruction and could pose a threat to allies. They included Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Cuba, Libya and Syria, a senior U.S. Defence official said.

"The only way to defend against individuals or groups or organisations or countries that have weapons of mass destruction and are bent on using them against you ... is to take the effort to find those global networks and to deal with them as the United States did in Afghanistan," he said.

Bush announced later on Thursday his proposal for a cabinet department of homeland security.

"It's all part of going from a peacetime society to a society mobilising for war," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=
StoryFT&cid=1023101537765&p=1012571727172