Looking for a Way Out of the Trap Baghdad Laid

• Published in: International herald tribune
• Main Author: Ott, Marvin C
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Paris New York Times Company 17.11.1997
• Edition: International edition
• Subjects: WASHINGTON
• ISSN: 0294-8052

Consider the situation. The highest priority of U.S. security policy since the implosion of the U.S.S.R. has been to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction biological, chemical and nuclear. The ultimate nightmare has been a radical regime and/or terrorist organization that acquires such weapons and is prepared to use them. Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, fits that description more closely than any other entity. There is not the slightest doubt that the Iraqi dictator has made it his overriding objective to acquire such arms. He has not only succeeded in the case of chemical and biological weapons; he has used chemical weapons against his own population. Had the Gulf War not intervened, there is little doubt that he would already have acquired a working nuclear weapon capability along with the capacity to deliver it against targets in the Middle East at a minimum. The Netanyahu government in Israel has effectively torpedoed the Oslo peace process, and with it much of American credibility and support in the Arab world. Signs of growing Arab disenchantment with U.S. policy toward Israel and Iraq are everywhere. Now it is at least questionable whether Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey would permit a replay of the Gulf War, with American armed forces staging major military operations from their soil.