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from http://www.japantoday.com/ __________ U.S. considers post-Afghan targets Tuesday, January 8, 2002 at 17:30 JST WASHINGTON - In the next phase of Washington's war on terrorism, the United States could focus on keeping terrorists out of places like Somalia, Yemen, Indonesia and the Philippines, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz said in an interview published on Tuesday. Wolfowitz told the New York Times the Pentagon is now working with friendly countries like the Philippines that would welcome U.S. help. But he said the Pentagon is also looking hard at possible terror bases in Somalia and Yemen, which are not equipped to root out terrorists on their own. Wolfowitz told the newspaper that the Pentagon had not ruled out military action against any country, including Iraq. He said that America's devastating bombing campaign in Afghanistan had already persuaded many nations that have supported terrorism to change their ways. "I'd say almost everywhere one has seen progress," he said. "A lot of that progress is motivated by the sense of American seriousness and the fear of getting on the wrong side of us." Iraq, however, has shown no signs of opposing terrorism, Wolfowitz told the newspaper, saying that while President Saddam Hussein "is keeping his head down these days, that should not leave the impression that he doesn't continue to do a bunch of things that concern us." Wolfowitz also told the Times that Somalia, perhaps more than any other place, fitted the bill of a lawless state that draws terrorists like a magnet. "Obviously Somalia comes up as a possible candidate for Al Qaeda people to flee to precisely because the government is weak or nonexistent," Wolfowitz said. But the newspaper said he acknowledged that U.S. options were limited in Somalia, where, he said, "by definition you don't have a government you can work with." On the subject of Yemen, Wolfowitz said that country also has pockets or regions of lawlessness, outside the control of the central government. "There are very significant back regions of Yemen," he said. "That's a case of an ungoverned piece of a country." The U.S has already put pressure on Yemen to crack down on suspected al Qaeda cells in the country. But Wolfowitz said in the interview that the Pentagon's main focus remains on Afghanistan, which he said was "at least as treacherous and dangerous now as it was a month or two ago." "One of the most difficult things in the next few months is going to be establishing which of our allies of convenience in the early stages of this war can become real allies over the longer term, and which ones are going to be major troublemakers, and which ones are going to just switch sides," Wolfowitz said in the interview. He told the paper that Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's interim leader, so far has proven to be an impressive man. "Whether he's up to the formidable job he has is a different question, Wolfowitz said. (Reuters News) ____________________ Click the link below to view this article and related discussions on Japan Today http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&id=190123 ____________________ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! Mail! http://promo.yahoo.com/videomail/ ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
