Coercive operations instead of war in Iraq - 6 September, 2002 - News

UN inspectors in Iraq will be accompanied with 50-thousand strong military force

George Bush’s sleepless nights were not in vain. He was desperately looking for a way out of the Iraqi trap, and he was rewarded. Now the head of the White House can be honest in front of the whole world. He may get up and say now that there will be no war, America is not an aggressor. If it is so, then the contradiction between the USA and its allies (Germany, France, Canada, Russia) will end up as well. The plan that Bush concocted is brilliantly simple.

We learnt some of its details in August actually. A high-ranking official of Bush’s administration confirmed to journalists on August 25 that the White House was thinking over coercive inspections in Iraq. Those operations imply the work of international inspectors in Iraq. Inspectors will work with military men's support. The latter will have a right to open fire in case of attempts to penetrate on inspected objects.

A governmental official added that the mentioned issue was only being discussed, it was not settled yet. It was said that the decision on the matter was expected to be made at the end of the next week.

No one paid any attention to that. Two weeks after mass media are all talking about Bush’s novelty. The administration of the American president is studying an opportunity to use 50 thousand military men for rendering help to UN international inspectors during coercive operations in Iraq. American governmental officials also acknowledged that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was not likely to agree upon such a scheme. Indeed, Hussein is maybe a tyrant, but he is surely not a lunatic.

By the way, according to the information from ABC, the issue on an opportunity of such coercive operations will be discussed on Saturday. The discussion is to take place between George Bush and Tony Blair in Bush’s Camp David residence. Most likely, Bush will discuss the same issue with Vladimir Putin. Blair will definitely say yes, whereas Putin’s answer will probably be negative. Fifty thousand soldiers is an army, rather a strong one, if it has a UN mandate.

Dmitry Chirkin PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov