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Falluja assault will be military failure, warns Cook

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Nov 10, IRNA -- Former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook 
warned Wednesday that the major assault on the Iraqi city of Falluja 
will prove counter-productive. 
"It will be a military failure," the former Foreign Secretary 
predicted. "I don`t think it will make a difference to the insurgency.
I don`t think it will be a defeat for the insurgents," he told BBC 
radio`s Today program. 
Cook, who resigned from his cabinet post as leader of the House 
of Commons in protest against the Iraq war, said that the US heavy- 
handed tactics would only result in more violence even though the 
overwhelming American firepower would succeed in occupying Falluja. 
"The American forces are configured in a way to fight a 
conventional war against a major enemy. They seem to believe they 
are taking an important base," he said. 
"They don`t understand that they are fighting a guerrilla war 
against an enemy that will fade away in front of them and appear 
around them as it has done in the last two days, launching attacks 
in a half a dozen other cities," Cook warned. 
Speaking in London on Tuesday night, the former Foreign Secretary 
said that Prime Minister Tony Blair should urge US President George 
W Bush to desist from Falluja-style offensives when they meet in 
Washington this week. 
He repeated his warning that US troops were fuelling resistance 
by adopting heavy-handed tactics. He said that while arguments could 
continue about the case for war, "there can be no two views on the 
conduct of the consequent occupation - it has been a disaster." 
US forces, Cook said, had failed to make the transition from 
waging war to keeping the peace. "They have responded to every sign 
of insurgency by escalating the level of military violence and 
predictably have bred even stronger resistance," he said. 
"I find it extraordinary that despite all the expressions of 
opposition to the assault on Falluja that the coalition authorities 
should not only have persisted with the assault, but pretend that 
they undertake it because the Iraqis want them to do so," he said. 
Referring to Blair`s visit to Washington, the former Foreign 
Secretary said the British premier should convince Bush of the 
wisdom of the warning by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that 
violent military action "will only make matters worse." 
He again questioned the value of Britain`s special relationship 
with the US, saying that the UK appeared "to be more unquestioning 
in our adherence to the special relationship at the very time when 
we seem to be getting least back from it." 
"Where our interests coincide," Cook said, "we should welcome the 
opportunity for a constructive relationship with the White House, 
but where our interests differ ... we should not be afraid to say 
so." 
HC/1430/1412