Nation & world briefing
War plans mount despite pleas for peace
Ron Hutcheson, Daniel Rubin and
Martin Merzer
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
WASHINGTON — France, Rus
sia, Germany and Pope John Paul
II all pleaded for peace Wednes
day, but President Bush studied in
vasion plans at the White House
with his top battlefield command
er as war with Iraq marched re
lentlessly closer.
• The three nations — now a
coalition of the unwilling — vowed
jointly to defeat a U.N. resolution
that would authorize war, but the
Bush administration downplayed
their stand.
• U.S. military officials con
firmed that they have designed an
initial war strategy called “shock
and awe” that would unleash 10
times the firepower of the opening
phase of the first Persian Gulf War.
• The Israeli Army told resi
dents of that nation to prepare gas
masks and a safe room in case Iraq
launches retaliatory chemical or
biological attacks against them.
Senior administration officials
said military action against Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein could
erupt late next week.
Speaking on condition of
anonymity, they also said the Pen
tagon and CIA have launched an
operation, code-named “Imminent
Horizon,” to hunt down an esti
mated 300 Iraqi agents in the
United States and more than 50
other countries before they can
launch terrorist attacks in retalia
tion for a U.S.-led invasion.
The operation is aimed at
known and suspected intelligence
officers in Iraqi diplomatic mis
sions and at other Iraqis believed
to be operating undercover as
businessmen, tourists or academ
■ \; ' y r, - I - i •) >1 i * i1 »
I
ics, said a senior U.S. official who
requested anonymity. So far, two
Iraqis are being expelled from the
Iraqi United Nations mission in
New York, and a third has been or
dered to leave the Philippines.
Seeking to influence an increasing
ly polarized diplomatic community,
Secretary of State Colin Powell
charged that Hussein was hiding ma
chinery that could build missiles to
replace those now being destroyed by
U.N. weapons inspectors.
“No nation has been taken in by
his transparent tactics,” said Pow
ell. “He’s still a threat. The clock is
continuing to tick, and the conse
quences of his continuing refusal
to disarm will be very, very real.”
At the White House, the presi
dent’s schedule reflected the stark
Choice between war and peace.
After receiving a report in the
White House situation room on
the Pentagon’s war plans from
Gen. Tommy Franks, America’s
top battlefield commander for
Iraq, Bush welcomed a peace en
voy from Pope John Paul II to the
Oval Office.
Cardinal Pio Laghi’s visit was
the latest in a series of moves by
the Vatican aimed at averting a
U.S. invasion of Iraq. The 82-year
old pontiff has been an outspoken
and active opponent of Bush’s
plans, declaring that there is no
moral or legal basis for war.
“It is illegal. It is unjust,” Laghi,
a former golf partner of the first
President Bush, told reporters af
ter his White House visit.
In a letter to Bush delivered by
the papal envoy, John Paul II told
the president that he would “ask
the Lord to inspire you to search
for the ways of a stable peace.”
White House officials said Bush
made his case that war may be the
best way to assure long-term inter
national security.
Later Wednesday, Laghi held a
news conference at the National
Press Club after White House offi
cials blocked his plans to meet
with reporters at the White House.
Powell is scheduled to begin a
new round of talks Thursday at the
United Nations and to attend a Se*
curity Council briefing Friday by
chief weapons inspector Hans Blix.
Blix offered a preview of that re
port Wednesday, saying Iraq re
cently has demonstrated improved
compliance with international de
mands that it disarm but still has a
distance to go. Iraq’s “track record
is not so good,” he said.
His comments and Powell’s
came as throngs of students
around the globe protested the
drive toward war and after Russia,
France and Germany vowed joint
ly to defeat a second U.S.-spon
sored U.N. resolution that would
effectively open the gates to dis
arm and topple Hussein by war.
“We will not allow a resolution
to pass that authorizes resorting
to force,” French Foreign Minister
Dominique de Villepin said in
Paris after a hastily called mini
summit of the three nations’
foreign ministers. “Russia and
France, as permanent members
of the Security Council, will as
sume their full responsibilities
on this point.” Both nations hold
veto power.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor
Ivanov said his nation would not
hesitate to veto the measure when
it reaches the Security Council for
a vote, expected next week.
To pass, a resolution must re
ceive nine affirmative votes and no
vetoes from any of the five perma
nent members of the 15-member
council — the United States,
Britain, Russia, France and China.
At the White House, spokesman
Ari Fleischer said the president
“remains confident in the out
come of this.” He contended that
the foreign ministers’ statement
left the window open for more ne
gotiations and a positive outcome
for the United States.
“You have not heard the final word
from any nation,” Fleischer said.
Through it all, preparations for
war accelerated and intensified.
“Our troops in the field are
trained, they’re ready, they are ca
pable,” said Gen. Tommy Franks,
America’s top battlefield com
mander for Iraq,
During a briefing at the Penta
gon, Franks and Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld repeatedly em
phasized that Bush has not yet ap
proved military action, but they
also signaled that such a decision
was a foregone conclusion.
“U.N. resolutions will be enforced,”
Rumsfeld said. “The president has
said that time is running out.”
In an attempt to minimize civil
ian casualties and maximize dam
age to key targets, at least 60 per
cent of the bombs will be guided
by lasers, satellites or video cam
eras, compared with 20 percent
in 1991, according to a senior
military official who requested
anonymity.
In another development that
suggested imminent hostilities, Is
rael’s chief of military intelligence
told Knesset members that a U.S.
led invasion of Iraq could begin as
early as next week.
“As of now, I want to emphasize
— get ready,” said Brig. Gen. Ruth
Yaron, an Army spokeswoman.
The Bush administration is ex
pected to give diplomats, U.N.
arms inspectors and other foreign
ers in Iraq 72 hours of warning be
fore an attack. Blix, the U.N. in
spection chief, said his inspectors
could leave Iraq within 48 hours.
“We don’t know what’s going to
happen,” he said.
Blix said Iraq has recently
shown signs of greater coopera
tion with weapons inspectors, now
that an invasion force is gathered
at its borders.
“They (Iraqi officials) have been
very active, I would say, and even
proactive in the last month or so,”
Blix said.
He pointed to the ongoing de
struction of more than 100 pro
hibited al Samoud 2 missiles and
seven recent interviews with Iraqi
scientists under the conditions
required by inspectors — without
Iraqi monitors or any tape
recorders.
Though he said he remained
skeptical of Iraqi claims of disar
mament, the outbreak of war
would mark “a serious failure for
the approach through inspection
to disarmament.”
He said additional inspections
would be welcome and could con
ceivably complete their mission
relatively soon.
“It seems to me it would be a
rather short time to close the door
and say, ‘This is it,”’ Blix said.
© 2003, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services. Knight Ridder
Newspapers correspondents Diego
Ibarguen at the United Nations,
Sudarsan Raghavan in Ankara, Turkey,
and Jessica Guynn and Renee Schoof
in Washington contributed to this report
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