Overthrowing Saddam 'just
the first step'
The Boston Globe, The
Washington Post
September 11 2002
As the Bush Administration debates going to war against Iraq, its
most hawkish members are pushing a vision for the Middle East that
sees the overthrow of President Saddam Hussein as merely a first step
in the region's transformation.
The argument for reshaping the political landscape in the Middle East
has been pushed for years by some Washington think tanks and in
hawkish circles.
It is now being considered as a possible US policy by hardliners in
the Administration, analysts and officials say.
Iraq, they argue, is just the first piece of the puzzle. After
ousting Saddam the US will have more leverage to act against Syria
and Iran, be in a better position to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, and rely less on Saudi oil. Although the thinking does not
represent official US policy, it has increasingly served as a
justification for a military attack against Iraq, and elements of the
strategy have emerged in speeches by US officials, particularly the
Vice-President, Dick Cheney.
"The goal is not just a new regime in Iraq; the goal is a new Middle
East," said Raad Alkadiri, an Iraq analyst with PFC, a Washington-
based energy consulting organisation.
"The goal has been and remains one of the main driving factors of pre-
emptive action against Iraq."
The push comes as the US quietly drops what has been a central
argument in the case for military action against Baghdad: Iraq's
links to al-Qaeda and other terrorist organisations.
Although US officials say they are still trying to build a strong
case tying Saddam to global terrorism, the CIA has not found
convincing evidence to back this up despite combing its files and
redoubling efforts to collect and analyse information related to Iraq.
Most specifically, analysts say they cannot validate allegations by
high-ranking US officials of links between Saddam and al-Qaeda
members who have taken refuge in northern Iraq and a meeting in
Prague in April last year between the September 11 hijacker Mohamed
Atta and an Iraqi intelligence agent.
"It's a thin reed," said a senior intelligence official, describing
the information on both cases.
As a result of the CIA's conclusions, the Bush Administration has
accepted that its strongest case against Iraq is Baghdad's apparent
continued attempt to acquire chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
President George Bush is expected to focus on this during his speech
to the United Nations tomorrow in which he will present the
Administration's Iraq policy.
"At some point we will certainly make the case concerning Iraq and
its links to terrorism," an Administration official said on Monday.
"We still have to develop it more."
The latest sign that the Administration has dropped references to
Saddam's alleged links to terrorist groups came on Monday at a
meeting in Detroit between Mr Bush and the Canadian Prime Minister,
Jean Chretien.
Mr Chretien later told reporters he had asked Mr Bush about links
between al-Qaeda and Iraq and that Mr Bush had said: "That is not the
angle they're exploring now. The angle they're exploring is the
production of weapons of mass destruction."
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/09/11/1031608248668.html
