Military

IRAQ

¨         Iraq told neighboring NATO member Turkey on Tuesday that Ankara would put itself at risk and destroy friendship with Baghdad if it backed U.S. military strikes. Turkey said the onus was on Iraq to allow full access to UN weapons inspectors and leave the United States with no grounds for attack.   Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Aziz met Turkish leaders in Ankara as part of a bid to deny Washington support bases here for any attack on Iraq. "We, whether we're in Ankara or Baghdad, believe the threat against Iraq is at the same time a threat against Turkey," Aziz said after talks with Prime Minister Ecevit.  Ecevit told reporters after meeting Aziz that Iraq must allow arms inspectors full access.(Reuters1605 011002 Oct 02 GMT)

¨         Denmark's prime minister said Tuesday that Europe and America must unite forces against countries with weapons of mass destruction and the United Nations must "live up to its responsibility" to stop them from spreading.  Prime Minister Fogh Rasmussen, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, pointed to attempts by the U.S. administration to persuade the UN to approve resolutions authorizing the use of military force to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. "Europe and the United States must stand together in attempts at preventing that tyrannical and irresponsible regimes have weapons of mass destruction," Fogh Rasmussen told parliament. "The international community's efforts to enforce these injunctions has the full support of Denmark and the EU," Fogh Rasmussen said. "The United Nations must (now) live up to its responsibility to stop the spreading of the weapons of mass destruction," he said. "It will be too late when the toxic gases have been spread over one of our cities." The Danish leader acknowledged trans-Atlantic "differences of opinion" but said Europe and the United States share the same basic values and principles and "what unites us is stronger than what divides us."(AP 011302 Oct 02 GMT)

ICC

¨         The United States said on Tuesday a EU decision to let member states exempt Americans on their soil from prosecution by a new international court was "positive and constructive" but argued that its allies had not gone far enough.   State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the decision by EU ministers on Monday to let members sign deals promising not to hand over Americans suspected of war crimes to the court provided "a positive and constructive way forward."  But he said the United States, which opposes the International Criminal Court, disagreed with the EU decision to limit such immunity agreements to U.S. soldiers and officials sent overseas. The court will try individuals for genocide, atrocities, war crimes and systematic human rights abuses. Boucher said the U.S. view that all Americans on another country's soil should be exempt was in line with the treaty setting up the court, which starts work in the Netherlands next year.(Reuters 2034 011002 Oct 02 GMT)