Washington: US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said his country will not wait
much longer than January 27 to decide whether it should go to war with Iraq, with or
without the approval of the UN Security Council.
The Iraqi regime has the intent to develop weapons of mass destruction and the
capacity to do so and the burden is on Iraq to prove that it does not have such
weapons, Powell, who was speaking to correspondents from countries who have just
joined the UN Security Council on January 17 said.
He said there are many people, who do not want to see the evidence, know anything
about it or want to have to deal with this problem. The American military build-up
and build-ups by other nations that are taking place are part of supporting the
diplomatic pressure to make Iraq perform and comply with the Council's resolution,
he said.
Powell said President George W Bush has not taken a decision for war and he has said
he would like to see this resolved peacefully. But he believes the international
community has an obligation to disarm Iraq forcefully.
"And he (Bush) believes," Powell said "that if the international community is not
willing to do it, then the United States, with like-minded nations, may have that
obligation so that the world does not face an Iraq with weapons of mass
destruction."
Condemning the Iraqi regime, Powell said, "We are not dealing with a misdemeanour.
We are dealing with a felonious State that has used these weapons of mass
destruction and has done everything to hide them for the last 15 years."
If Iraq does have biological weapons, he said, that is a threat not only to the
nations immediately around Iraq, but also to the world. "And anybody who would be
complacent and say 'you Americans are picking on this terrible regime, which is
developing biological weapons that are no threat to anybody,' I think that is a
wrong way to look at it," he said.
Powell took exception to suggestions in the US and abroad that the US has become or
becoming imperialist. He said America has not been an imperialist nation.
"We are not the ones who colonised or imposed imperialist regimes on the world.
Quite the contrary," he said.
When a correspondent reminded him that the US seized the Philippines, Cuba and
Puerto Rico from Spain, Powell said, "The Philippines are free. I don't see any
American flags in Cuba. Puerto Rico is a unique situation and wishes to remain in
its current status (as a Commonwealth of the United States but not as a State)."
We have some other minor possessions, who are very happy with the relationship we
have with them. But there is no territory out there that wants to change its
status."
PTI
