One man does not make a team

Great Britain can at any moment refuse to participate in the Iraqi campaign

The military machine of Pentagon is picking up speed. After having received a kick from US congressmen, who are not satisfied with slowness of their protectors, the worriers sped towards the Persian Gulf. Now, they can be stopped by nobody, except by Saddam, though this is hardly possible. The nearer the fatal X-time is, the thinner the rows of the White House allies are. Yes, this is what is happening now. However, Washington does not care a damn about this. It is too late to step back. Washington doesn't even take into account doubts expressed by America's old ally, Great Britain, which proposed to fix for Baghdad a deadline for recommencement of international inspections. According to the Liberty radio station, White House representative Scott McLellan said on Friday that the Iraqi regime must immediately execute the UN demand and allow the inspectors to return to its territory. Some European countries, including Germany and France, are against a possible US war against Iraq. NATO Secretary General George Robertson said that discrepancies on this question do not hinder Europe and the US from remaining close allies.

However, this statement by the NATO secretary general was made for the public. Even in America, people do not support the offensive against Iraq. In comparison with last October, today, the number of Americans who support a war against Iraq reduced by almost 20 percent. This was confirmed by the results of a new public opinion poll published on Saturday in the US, which was carried out by Prinston Survey Research according to Newsweek magazine.

According to the poll, only 62 percent of Americans support military action against Iraq, while, 10 months ago, 81 percent of US citizens supported agression against Iraq. Only 49 percent of the American population support the idea to send a big contingent of US land troops invading Iraq, while 45 percent of the respondents are against it. This investigation showed that the majority of US citizens (70 percent) support the idea of the Special Forces and forces of Iraqi opposition conducting a secret operation to capture Saddam Hussein. While 69 percent of respondents say that to remove Hussain, the US should form an international coalition.

Therefore, it looks like the military operation should be carried out, and as soon as possible, otherwise US citizens will conduct their own "regime change." Yes, the president's job is not easy…

Dmitry Litvinovich PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Vera Solovieva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/08/31/46485.html