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FROM:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid
=11691273&method=full&siteid=50143
Monday
11 March 2002 07:01:17am
The Mirror Pictures
BUSH'S
NUCLEAR MADNESS
Horror at Dubya's secret attack plan on 7 countries
By Alexandra Williams and Bob Roberts
PRESIDENT Bush faced world anger last night over America's seven-nation
nuclear hit list.
British
MPs joined the outcry after a leaked Pentagon report revealed contingency
plans to use nuclear weapons against China, Russia, Iran, Iraq, North
Korea, Syria and Libya. The secret policy was denounced as warmongering
"lunacy".
Alarmed
officials from Moscow to Tehran warned that the "power crazy"
President, buoyed up by the successful campaign in Afghanistan, could
plunge the world into chaos. British politicians said the strategy threatened
the stability of the Nato alliance.
International
tension mounted as Washington pressed Britain to back an attack on Iraq
- including the possible commitment of 25,000 British troops to topple
Saddam Hussein.
Cabinet
Minister Clare Short hinted that she might resign if Tony Blair supported
a mass strike against Baghdad. She said: "We need to deal with
the problem of Saddam Hussein - we don't need to inflict further suffering
on the people of Iraq."
Labour
MPs Alice Mahon and Tam Dalyell will today deliver a letter to 10 Downing
Street warning the Prime Minister against joining any military action.
US Vice President Dick
Cheney arrived in London last night for talks with Mr Blair which will
cover the threat posed by Iraq.
No 10 insisted last night:
"No decisions have been taken."
Amid mounting anger,
the target nations accused America of intimidation and "wreaking
havoc on the whole world" and branded the plans
a "lunatic" threat to world peace.
In Britain, MPs said
the sensational disclosures threatened the stability of the Western
alliance.
Labour MP Alice Mahon
said: "The lunatics have taken over the
White House. This report must be ringing alarms throughout
Nato." The Pentagon document, known as the Nuclear Posture Review,
was leaked as the US lobbied Britain to join an invasion of Iraq.
International Development
Secretary and Cabinet Minister Clare Short hinted she might resign if
a strike went ahead.
The review says the US
must be ready to use nuclear weapons against China, Russia, Iran, Iraq,
North Korea, Syria and Libya. It then identified four areas where the
US should be prepared to press the button:
In an Arab-Israeli conflict,
in a war between China and Taiwan, in an attack by North Korea on South
Korea and in an attack by Iraq on Israel or another neighbour. Additionally,
the weapons could be used against targets able to withstand conventional
attack and in retaliation for the use of nuclear, biological or chemical
weapons.
They could also be used
in the event of "surprising military developments", reflecting
fears that rogue states or terrorists could deploy weapons against the
US.
The review, leaked to
the Los Angeles Times, orders the military to plan for the use of "smaller
nuclear weapons" as a more effective deterrent against terrorist
attacks. It also calls for cruise missiles to carry nuclear weapons.
It is the first time the US has reviewed its nuclear strategy since
1994 and the first list of target nations to be made public.
Last night it was seen
as a warning to those states who might be harbouring terrorists. In
Russia, defence hawk General Leonid Ivashov said: "The
heart of US political doctrine is to push powerful Russia off the political
scene."
Russian politician Dmitry
Rogozin added: "This is a nuclear stick intended to intimidate
us." Vyacheslav Nikonov, of the Politika think tank, branded the
plans a "very negative signal" which would be "received
in an appropriate fashion by Russia's leadership".
Iran's former president
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, an aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
said: "The US believes that by threatening countries they'll withdraw
their demands. Their policy is one of intimidation.''
The Tehran Times newspaper
said: "This indicates the US is going to wreak havoc on the world
to establish its domination." Professor Michael Yahuda, professor
of international relations at the London School of Economics, warned:
"China won't be happy to be classified among rogue nations."
Liberal Democrat spokesman
Menzies Campbell said: "America seems to be moving from nuclear
deterrence to nuclear war fighting.
"It would drive
a coach and horses through Nato's doctrine of nuclear strikes as a last
resort."
US Secretary of State
Colin Powell insisted the report did not signal imminent action.
He said: "We should
not get carried away with some sense the US plans to use nuclear weapons
in some contingency in the near future.
"It's not the case.
What the Pentagon has done with this is sound military, conceptual planning.
"Not a single nation
is being targeted by an American nuclear weapon on a day-to-day basis."
National security adviser
Condoleezza Rice added: "We all want to make the use of weapons
of mass destruction less likely.
"The way that you
do that is to send a very strong signal to anyone who might use them
against the United States that they'd be met with a devastating response."
Vice-President Dick Cheney
arrived in London last night to meet Tony Blair. He is expected to appeal
for military support against Iraq. It is reported the US will ask for
up to 25,000 British troops to form part of an invasion force.
In the first sign of
a Cabinet split, Ms Short denounced any invasion plans yesterday. She
said: "An all-out military attack is, of course, not at all sensible.
"We
need to deal with the problem of Saddam Hussein. We don't need to inflict
further suffering on the people of Iraq."
Ms Short said the best
answer was to allow UN inspectors back into Iraq, a move firmly ruled
out by Iraq's Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan yesterday. Her warning
amounted to a threat to resign if there is a strike against Iraq. Donald
Anderson, Labour chairman of the Commons foreign affairs select committee,
said military action on Iraq must only be a last resort.
He said: "I think
there are reckless elements in the Pentagon who are on a roll because
of Afghanistan.
"I would hope part
of the task of our Government is to influence those who take a contrary
view."
Downing Street played
down the reports of an American request for British troops. A spokesman
said: "No decisions have been taken, let
alone any requests made."
FROM:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid
=11691273&method=full&siteid=50143
