MILLIYET- Columnist Derya Sazak comments on the possibility of a peaceful resolution in Iraq. A summary of his column is as follows:
With the approach of Jan. 27, the date when the United Nations weapons inspectors are due to release their report on Iraq, other powerful nations have begun to express doubts about the US carrying out an operation single-handedly without a new resolution from the UN Security Council. During a recent European Union summit, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder reiterated that the Iraqi problem should be solved not through the use of force, but rather through international political pressure. Schroeder stated that Germany would by no means participate in an operation against Iraq, nor would it provide financial support. These two leaders’ words show that the US is growing more and more isolated in its policy thrust. In addition, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, under increasing pressure at home, has started to say that a second resolution is necessary. Although the US didn’t enter the 21st century as the world’s only superpower, its current policy on Iraq could provoke a new conflict similar to the last two world wars.
Although such UN Security Council members as Russia and China know that the US policy of having its way in the Middle East through Iraq is a declaration of global sovereignty dependent on petroleum, their rejection remains on the level of rhetoric alone, as they seem to lack the military power to back it up. Turkey is among those suffering the most. The US is hoping to send its land forces into Baghdad by opening a corridor through Turkey into northern Iraq. The number of US soldiers requested for this unprecedented mission, initially 130,000, has since dropped to 80,000 and finally 15,000. As our government and General Staff voiced objections to keeping more than 100,000 foreign soldiers on Turkish territory, the US started to revise its northern front plans. The final decision will likely emerge during US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers’s contacts in Ankara this weekend. On the one hand Washington’s hopes are dimming, but on the other it’s interesting that its inspections extended as far as Sabiha Gokcen Airport in Istanbul. Meanwhile, there is a series of questions calling for answers: If the government is really seeking peace, what was contained in its recent message to Saddam Hussein? Did it propose a ‘solution without Saddam’ to dissuade the US from war? Is Saddam afraid of being tried before an international court? Is the Iraqi leader being provided with guarantees that he could live in another country without fear of trial on condition that he paves the way for the democratization of his country and creates new balances that include Shiites and Kurds in Iraq’s administration? Maybe there’s still hope for peace to prevail in Iraq.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION