MILLIYET- Columnist Hasan Cemal writes on US Vice President Dick Cheney’s visit to Turkey and the US plans regarding Iraq. A summary of his column is as follows:
Following his talks with US Vice President Cheney, Prime Minister Ecevit said that there was no military operation against Iraq in the foreseeable future. The expression ‘foreseeable future’ is used frequently in diplomatic language. It gives an impression of uncertainty, arbitrary feeling and subjectivity. What did the US vice president mean when he said there was to be no military action against Iraq in the foreseeable future? He probably meant that an operation was not imminent. This relieved Ankara, as it became evident that there was to be no strike against Iraq until autumn. It is hard to say that Cheney got what he wanted from Ankara. He came away from the Arab capitals empty-handed as the Arab leaders were more concerned with the clashes in Israel-Palestine than Saddam Hussein. The conflict in Israel-Palestine is destabilizing the region, causing unrest in the streets throughout the Arab world, and strengthening the hands of the radicals. Therefore priority must be given to Israel-Palestinian peace. The atmosphere in Ankara was no different. The fact that a military operation against Iraq was not viewed favorably was once more repeated to Cheney. As the situation in Afghanistan is ongoing, and bloodletting is continuing in the clashes in Israel-Palestine, it would not be a reasonable action to take. Vice President Cheney stated how great a danger Saddam Hussein posed to the peace and stability in the region with the weapons of mass destruction in his hands. He reieterated that Saddam would not be excluded from Washington’s plans and asked for Turkish support. While sharing the concerns of the vice president, Ankara stressed that it would be more proper to conduct negotiations within the framework of the United Nations. Cheney replied that this process was already going on, but that the US administation did not expect much from this as Saddam could not be trusted to comply with the UN resolutions. In short, Iraq will not be dropped from the US’ plans. An operation against Iraq will be discussed. The US administration, which sees Saddam as the most important link in the fight against terrorism, will try every method, including overthrowing him. However, at the moment it will insist on Saddam Hussein’s unconditional acceptance of UN weapons inspectors while continuing to prepare for an operation. In the meantime, it will try to control the fire in Israel and Palestine, and if possible extinguish it Cheney must have understood that without doing that, an operation against Iraq would backfire, and strengthen the hands of other bin Ladins in the Gulf.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION