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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020930/pl_nm/iraq_russia_usa_dc_2 U.S. Rejects Russian Criticism of Attacks on Iraq Mon Sep 30, 3:30 PM ET By Charles Aldinger -"The surge of activity by allied aviation which has come at a time when representatives ... prepared to go to Vienna to discuss procedures for renewing U.N. inspections in Iraq causes regret," the Russian ministry said in a statement. "Anglo-American bombing raids in 'no-fly zones' not only deepen the complicated atmosphere around Iraq but create obstacles in the search for a political-diplomatic settlement of the Iraq question," the statement said. -Bush has said if the United Nations does not act, the United States and "some of its friends" will. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Monday rejected Russian criticism of U.S. and British air strikes against Iraq, charging that Baghdad had fired on allied warplanes in no-fly zones 67 times in the past two weeks. "Their (Iraq's) actions are defiance of international law, international rule, of military attacks on coalition aircraft," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said as President Bush headed back to Washington after a weekend at his Texas ranch. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld showed classified gun camera video at the Pentagon and said it was "nonsensical" to blame Washington and London for responding to increasing attempts by Iraq to shoot down U.S. and British jets patrolling the zones in northern and southern Iraq. The Russian Foreign Ministry suggested that the most recent U.S. and British air raids had been timed to coincide with talks opening in Vienna over procedures for allowing U.N. weapons inspectors back into Iraq. "The surge of activity by allied aviation which has come at a time when representatives ... prepared to go to Vienna to discuss procedures for renewing U.N. inspections in Iraq causes regret," the Russian ministry said in a statement. OBSTACLES TO A SETTLEMENT? "Anglo-American bombing raids in 'no-fly zones' not only deepen the complicated atmosphere around Iraq but create obstacles in the search for a political-diplomatic settlement of the Iraq question," the statement said. At a Pentagon briefing, Rumsfeld and U.S. Air Force Gen. Richard Myers showed reporters previously classified footage taken by warplane gun cameras and little unmanned "Predator" spy planes, showing Iraq's attempts to shoot down Western warplanes. They said Iraq had increased its attempts to down U.S. and British warplanes, firing at them 67 times since Sept. 16 when Baghdad agreed to allow U.N. inspectors to return to the country to search for weapons of mass destruction. "It seems to me that reasonable people would look at that and say 'my goodness, why would the Iraqis make it more difficult to solve this?'," said Rumsfeld. "Is it because they're trying to get us to fire back so that someone can say they're uncomfortable, or regret it?" U.S. and British jets have been patrolling no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq for more than a decade. The zones were set up after the 1991 Gulf War to prevent President Saddam Hussein's military from attacking minority Kurds in northern Iraq and Shi'ite Muslims in the south. Iraq does not recognize the zones, and tit-for-tat exchanges have increased sharply in recent months as speculation has grown that the United States might launch an invasion to overthrow Iraq's President Saddam Hussein, who Washington accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction. "We have just been enormously fortunate that no plane has been shot down -- no manned aircraft has been shot down," Rumsfeld said. Fleischer said the Iraq attempts over the last two weeks were "a reminder again that the words of Iraq continue to change, but their actions don't." Iraq said on Sunday U.S. jets had raided the Basra airport for the second time in a week, targeting radar systems and passenger terminals. But the U.S. Central Command in Tampa said the strike was aimed at a military mobile radar at the dual-use military-civilian airfield "in response to hostile acts." The United States and Britain are pressing for the support of Russia, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, for a new resolution to disarm Iraq. Bush has said if the United Nations does not act, the United States and "some of its friends" will. ------------------------------------------------------- http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/af/Qchina-russia.R2jS_CSU.html Chinese and Russian foreign ministers agree on Iraq BEIJING, Sept 30 (AFP) - Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan and his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov agreed Monday the best way to solve the Iraq issue was by political means, state media said, reporting on a telephone conversation between them. Tang told Ivanov the Chinese government believes the Iraq problem should be resolved within the framework of the United Nations and that the top priority at present was to enable UN weapon inspectors to return to Iraq at an early date, the Xinhua news agency said. He also urged Iraq to cooperate with the United Nations fully to reach an agreement as soon as possible on the resumption of weapons inspections. Tang added that all actions taken by the UN Security Council should be conducive to a political settlement. Ivanov was quoted by Xinhua as saying Russia also believed the problem should be solved by political means on the basis of relevant UN Security Council resolutions and in line with the norms of international law. Moscow hopes to maintain close contact with Beijing on the issue, he added. The United States and Britain are pushing for a Security Council resolution which would give Iraq just seven days to declare all its weapons of mass destruction programs and another 23 to cooperate fully with UN inspection teams, or face military action. The other permanent members of the Security Council -- China, France and Russia -- have the power to veto any Council resolution. China, France and Russia have opposed US President George W. Bush's calls for military action against Iraq if it fails to come clean over its weapons of mass destruction. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? 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