Posted on 24-1-2003

Russian source: US 'will attack Iraq next month'
by Sarah Left, Independent UK, Wednesday January 22, 2003

A Russian source today claimed to have information that the US plans to
launch an attack on Iraq within the next month.

The Russian news agency Interfax quoted an unnamed, high-ranking source in
the Russian general headquarters as saying that the US and its allies would
attack once a battle-ready force of 150,000 troops reached the Gulf.
"According to the information we have, the operation is planned for the
second half of February. The decision to launch it has been taken but not
yet been made public," the source said. The source claimed that toppling
the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, was a pretext allowing the US to
acquire control of Iraqi oilfields. "The military operation against Iraq
will be conducted by a combination of means. Strikes will be from the air,
land and sea," the source said, claiming that Washington expects the
military campaign to last for around a month. Interfax did not explain how
the Russians had obtained the alleged details. However Russian website
gazeta.ru, wryly noting that US news outlets had been predicting an attack
in late February or early March for some time, ran a story titled 'Russian
general reads American paper'.

The US has said that it expects to build up a force of 150,000 troops by
the end of February. Britain is sending 35,000 troops, a quarter of its
army, to the Gulf. However, the German chancellor, Gerhard Schr öder, made
it clear that his country would use its position on the UN security council
to oppose a resolution backing force against the Iraqi regime. "Don't
expect Germany to approve a resolution legitimising war," Mr Schröder told
a rally of his Social Democratic party last night. France, along with
fellow permanent security council members China and Russia, has called for
UN inspectors to be given more time to carry out their search for weapons
of mass destruction in Iraq.

Washington sees January 27, when weapons inspectors are due to deliver a
UN-mandated report on their mission in Iraq, as a decisive date, while
allies and the heads of the weapons inspection teams have argued that it
should be viewed as a progress report.

The UN weapons inspection chief, Hans Blix, has discussed delivery of a
second report, which was not called for in the UN resolution passed last
year, in March.

The US president, George Bush, yesterday sought to persuade allies of the
need for early military action. "Surely our friends have learned lessons
about the past. Surely we have learned how this man deceives and delays.
He's been told to disarm for 11 long years. He is not disarming," Mr Bush
said. The president may also need to persuade his own citizens of the need
for an early war. A Washington Post-ABC News poll published today found
that seven out of ten Americans favoured giving weapons inspectors more
time to carry out their search.