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http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,667063,00.html Bush tells foes to beware nuclear response Oliver Burkeman in New York, and agencies Thursday March 14, 2002 The Guardian President Bush upped the ante in America's "war on terrorism" yesterday, when he refused to rule out the possibility of launching nuclear strikes in the event of an attack on the country. He said the US government would keep "all options on the table" - including those floated in a controversial Pentagon report released last weekend which proposed lowering the threshold for using so-called "mini-nukes" against hostile nations, whether or not they possessed nuclear weapons themselves. "The reason one has a nuclear arsenal is to serve as a deterrence," the president told a news conference at the White House. "We've got all the options on the table, because we want to make it very clear to nations that you will not threaten the United States or use weapons of mass destruction against us or our allies or friends." Although he stuck to the administration's official line that a decision to take military action against Iraq has not yet been made, Mr Bush ratcheted up the pressure against Saddam Hussein, telling reporters: "We are going to deal with him." "I am deeply concerned about Iraq. This is a nation run by a man who is willing to kill his own people by using chemical weapons, a man who won't let inspectors into the country, a man who's obviously got something to hide," he said. "But the first stage is to consult with our allies and friends, and that is exactly what we are doing." The Pentagon's Nuclear Posture Review, completed in January but made public days ago, named seven nations - Russia, China, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya and North Korea - as potential threats, causing panic among some leaders and forcing the US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld to reassure Russia that it was not in danger of becoming a target of an American nuclear attack. Iran's president, Mohammad Khatami, speaking before the president's comments, called the plans "evil". "Now you may judge who is talking about war and who is talking about peace," he said during a visit to Athens. In a further note of conciliation towards Moscow, however, Mr Bush used the same news conference to express his hope that Russia and America might reach agreement on deep cuts in both countries' nuclear arsenals by the time he visits President Vladimir Putin in May. Mr Bush said he hoped to sign, together with Mr Putin, "a document that outlives both of us" to set out big cuts in US and Russian nuclear weapons. He also said that his administration was willing to discuss Russian concerns about US plans to store, rather than destroy, thousands of the nuclear warheads that are destined to be removed from the active force. The White House has stressed its belief that because Russia is no longer an adversary of the US, there should be no need to codify arms reductions. Mr Putin, however, has pushed for a formal agreement, possibly in the form of a bilateral treaty. At the news conference, Mr Bush appeared less concerned than ever about the importance of capturing Osama bin Laden - a stance intended to bolster his administration's ongoing efforts to shift the focus of the American campaign away from its initial aims. He called the terrorist leader "marginalised" and insisted that "I just don't spend that much time" wondering where he is. "Deep in my heart I know the man's on the run, if he's alive at all," he said. "Who knows if he's hiding in some cave or not? We haven't heard from him in a long time. The idea of focusing on one person really indicates to me that people don't understand the scope of the mission." __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Sports - live college hoops coverage http://sports.yahoo.com/ --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B 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 ==^================================================================
