Military

DATE=12/06/01

TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

TITLE= U-S / IRAQ

NUMBER=5-50637

BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Some influential members of Congress are urging President Bush to make Iraq the next target in the war against terrorism, and are calling for stepped up efforts to topple Saddam Hussein. President Bush warns Baghdad will eventually have to face the consequences if it does not allow United Nations weapons inspectors back into the country. Correspondent Nick Simeone tells us more.

TEXT: United Nations weapons inspectors have not been in Iraq since December 1998. Since then, the Bush administration suspects Baghdad has been working to reconstitute some of its stocks of weapons of mass destruction, which it agreed to give up at the end of the Gulf War.

But a decade later, the White House finds itself coming under renewed pressure both from within the government and from members of Congress to make Baghdad the next target in the war on terrorism. While the administration says it remains focused on Afghanistan, President Bush told the nation this week American forces could very well become involved in anti-terrorism operations elsewhere, and that the threat posed by Iraq will have to be dealt with sooner or later.

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If they develop weapons of mass destruction that will be used to terrorize nations, they will be held accountable.

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Some in Washington, including Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, have called for Saddam Hussein's overthrow. And there are members of Congress who say the success the U-S military has seen in driving the Taleban from power in Afghanistan should serve as a model for Iraq and want President Bush to act sooner rather than later.

Nine lawmakers sent a letter to the president urging him to remove Saddam Hussein from power, by giving the opposition Iraqi National Congress the military aid to do it. Sharif Ali Bin-Al Hussein is a member of the I-N-C's leadership council.

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What we would like is for them to give us more support to enhance and improve our activities inside Iraq. The battle is inside Iraq, not in foreign capitals. That's what we're asking from the United States.

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But Washington would likely find itself facing an uphill diplomatic battle in assembling an international coalition to support such a move. There's little support for U-S policy towards Iraq in the Arab world, where many blame the United States -- and not Saddam Hussein -- for the suffering that more than a decade of sanctions have brought to the Iraqi people.

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The Arab world has lost faith in the U-S commitment or policy on Iraq. They have seen the United States do nothing and they will not be party to simply punitive attacks on Iraq.

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And, many European countries currently supporting the U-S led war in Afghanistan favor relaxing the sanctions against Iraq. A decade after the end of the Gulf War, France no longer takes part in the allied air patrols over Iraq, leaving the United States and Britain to enforce the northern and southern no fly zones. Last week, Spain's prime minister came to Washington with a warning that Europe is not ready to turn its sights on Iraq as the next target in the war on terrorism. (SIGNED)

NJS/MAR