A R C H I V E S
Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| World Reacts to Nuclear Threats |
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| mujaahid |
| 03/11/02 at 11:32:03 |
| MOSCOW - Foreign governments reacted cautiously to news that the Pentagon has studied options for nuclear strikes on countries that threaten the United States with weapons of mass destruction. Some outside of government called it a worrisome development. The Pentagon has informed Congress it has outlined for President Bush the possible use of nuclear weapons against hostile countries such as Iraq or North Korea that are developing weapons of mass destruction. The Los Angeles Times reported the targets could also include China, Russia, Iran, Libya and Syria. Official government reaction from both U.S. allies and rivals was reserved on Sunday. Libya's African affairs minister, Ali Abd al-Salam al-Turiki, told reporters in Cairo he found the report hard to believe. "I don't think this is true," he said. "I don't think America is going to destroy the world." Both the British Foreign Office and the Italian defense minister dismissed the plans as routine military planning. A NATO spokesman said it was too early to comment. "Military forces from time to time evaluate their long-term programs even when it is hypothetical," Italian Defense Minister Antonio Martino was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency. Outside governments, many perceived the U.S. plans as a threat. "The order indicates that the U.S. administration is going to wreak havoc on the whole world in order to establish its hegemony and domination," said the conservative Tehran Times newspaper, which is close to Iran's hard-liners. "America thinks that if a military threat looms large over the head of these seven countries, they will give up their logical demands," former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani was quoted as saying by the official Islamic Republic News Agency. The Russian government was silent Sunday on the U.S. report to Congress, but some commentators there called it an unwelcome threat. The United States "has always seen and sees the U.S.S.R. and post-Soviet Russia as a geopolitical rival," Col.-Gen. Leonid Ivashov, the former head of the Defense Ministry's department for international cooperation, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. "It's about time Russian politicians realized this and stopped having illusions that Washington wishes Moscow well and prosperity," said Ivashov, an outspoken hawk who was dismissed last year. Dmitry Rogozin, a leading Russian lawmaker with close ties to the Kremlin, accused Washington of deliberately organizing the leak in order to intimidate Russia at a time of increasing strain in U.S.-Russian ties. Relations, which had improved dramatically after Sept. 11, have recently been marred by trade disputes over a U.S. decision to introduce new steel tariffs and a Russian ban on U.S. poultry imports. "They've brought out a big stick — a nuclear stick that is supposed to scare us and put us in our place," Rogozin said on NTV television. Political analyst Vyacheslav Nikonov suggested the report came at an inauspicious time for Washington, which has recently involved itself in Georgia, Russia's neighbor to the south. U.S. troops are to arrive there this month to train an anti-terrorist force. Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his approval to the U.S. plans, despite initial strong protests from top officials and lawmakers. Menzies Campbell, spokesman for Britain's third-party Liberal Democrats, was quoted by The Observer newspaper as saying the U.S. policy "completely changes the terms of debate about nuclear deterrence." "Britain will have to think very carefully now about its support for systems such as the national missile defense system," Campbell was quoted as saying. Source: Associated Press |
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