Time Running Out For Iraq: Cook

Britain stepped up pressure on Iraq yesterday, warning Saddam Hussein that time was running out if he wanted to avoid punishing air strikes.

Foreign secretary Robin Cook said Britain and the United States would strike sooner rather than later unless Saddam allowed the United Nations unfettered access to suspected weapons sites.

Time is running out, Cook told BBC television. The deadline (for compliance with the UN) is getting closer and closer, and he will be making a big mistake if he thinks that we are going to back down. If the air strike does take place, it will hit hard.

 

Cook warned the Iraqi president. Saddam could well lose a lot of his own military assets in an air assault and thereby see his own grip on power weakened.

The BBC quoted defence secretary George Robertson as saying that any use of force would be directly aimed at Saddams power base.

His own regime and his own survival may be in question, Robertson said. While Cook would not say how long it would be before the United States and Britain resorted to force, he made it clear their patience would not last for months.

Not months, not months, said Cook. Lets keep him guessing. Our strategy throughout this has been to keep him on his toes, worrying about when we might do it and what we might do. But time is running out.

Reports have said Saddam only has about two weeks to comply with the Security Council resolutions on free access or risk a US-led bombardment from the air.

Despite widespread criticism of the strike threat, Cook said Iraq should be in no doubt about the strength of US and British resolve in the stand-off over access to Iraqs suspected weapons of mass destruction.

We have to win this confrontation. We have to get the inspectors back in so that the weapons can be removed, and Im totally robust behind that, said Cook. He was cagey about news that Saudi Arabia, a key ally in the 1991 Gulf War to oust Iraq from Kuwait, had declared its opposition to a renewed military strike.

Cook, who met his Saudi counterpart last week, said he had not seen a full Saudi statement but had won a lot of understanding from Iraqs neighbours about the need to back up tough words with action.

He also stressed that Britain was not asking for permission to mount the strike aircraft from Saudi territory.

As to a report in Britains Sunday Express newspaper that Saddam might mount terror attacks in Britain should London launch air strikes, Cook replied: We have no intelligence to suggest that that is actually in contemplation and it would actually be difficult for him to do it.

But he said it was a pointer to the risks inherent in bowing to the Iraqi president and an indicator of the mentality of the government in Baghdad.

Do remember, you are dealing with a very brutal, even psychopathic, regime, said Cook.