Washington: The evidence regarding Iraq's weapons programme that US Secretary of
State Colin Powell presented in the UN Security Council affirmed what was already
known about Baghdad's ambitions to stockpile lethal arms and does not justify any
pre-emptive attack, a US Defence expert has said.
"Whether Iraq has or does not have weapons of mass destruction completely misses the
more important and fundamental point that Iraq does not have any military capability
that directly threatens the US and would absolutely require pre-emptive US military
action," Charles Pena, Defence expert at Cato Institute, a well-known think tank,
said.
According to the Pentagon, existing and emerging threats to the US include 12
countries with nuclear weapons programmes, 13 countries with biological weapons, and
16 with chemical weapons. So if weapons of mass destruction is the criteria for
military action, then Iraq should not be the only target, he argued.
"The alleged linkages to al-Qaida involve connecting Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi to the
Ansar-al-Islam terrorist group operating in North Eastern Iraq," Pena pointed out.
"This is Kurdish-controlled territory protected by US-led enforcement of the no-fly
zone and collaboration between Ansar al-Islam and the Iraqi regime is
not proven," he stated.
And no case has been made that Iraq supported al-Qaida in the planning, financing or
operation of the September 11attacks. "Thus, the case against Iraq remains
essentially unchanged. The only thing different is the messenger."
PTI
