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http://www.budapestsun.com/full_story.asp?ArticleId={6FCC0688E4A04321AA3D88EC9B51D444}&From=News The Budapest Sun October 3, 2002 Government backs US, Britain on Iraq By Fraser Allan -"If military action becomes inevitable, Hungary, as an ally of the United States and a NATO member committed to the struggle against terrorism, will know where its place is." -The remarks followed a visit to a NATO Defense Ministers� meeting in Warsaw by Defense Minister Ferenc Juh�sz, who said he had been shown detailed evidence of Iraqi preparations to manufacture various weapons of mass destruction including nuclear devices. -At a conference of the Parliamentary NATO Club, Foreign Ministry State Secretary Andr�s Barsony said Hungary was prepared to play a more prominent role in European defense issues. "The time is ripe for radical reform in NATO�s way of thinking and strategy," Barsony said. FOREIGN Minister L�szl� Kov�cs has given the United States and Great Britain a more favorable signal than most European allies over the pressure the US and the UK continues to pile on the international community to sanction a possible attack on Iraq. Speaking to Hungarian news agency MTI as both US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair continued to threaten Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein with military action if his regime continued to hoard weapons of mass destruction, Kov�cs agreed with the US and British assessment of Saddam�s regime as a significant threat to regional and world security. "The worst-case scenario would be the world passively watching the Iraqi dictator continue his arms buildup and waiting for the day when Saddam Hussein threatens the whole world with weapons of mass destruction," he said. Unlike many other European foreign ministers, with the notable exception of Spain and Poland, Kov�cs suggested implicitly that unilateral action by the US and Britain without prior UN sanction would be acceptable to the Government of Hungary. "As far as any military solution is concerned, it should rather be executed with the consent of the UN Security Council, but even military action carried out without UN authorization would be better than to wait idly by for the tragic consequences of Saddam�s arms buildup. "If military action becomes inevitable, Hungary, as an ally of the United States and a NATO member committed to the struggle against terrorism, will know where its place is," he added. Kov�cs however stressed that military action should only be used as a last resort against Iraq should it continue to defy existing UN resolutions demanding unfettered access by weapons inspectors and the complete and verifiable destruction of all weapons of mass destruction. "The best scenario would be one where the international community exerted strong pressure on the Iraqi leader and forces him to cease the production of all weapons of mass destruction and destroy all existing stockpiles," the Foreign Minister said. The remarks followed a visit to a NATO Defense Ministers� meeting in Warsaw by Defense Minister Ferenc Juh�sz, who said he had been shown detailed evidence of Iraqi preparations to manufacture various weapons of mass destruction including nuclear devices. Juh�sz said the evidence appeared to be "convincing". The statement pleased the US Administration. Public Affairs Officer C�sar D Beltr�n, of the US Embassy in Budapest, stated that, "The US is always pleased to receive the support of its allies, and is particularly encouraged that the briefing given in Warsaw to Defense Minister Juh�sz was seen as stating a compelling case." British Ambassador to Hungary Nigel Thorpe also welcomed Kov�cs� comments. "This demonstrates that the Hungarian Government�s position is very close to that of the British, which is that we would prefer if at all possible a solution allowing for the return of the weapons inspectors with full unfettered access resulting in the destruction of all weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which are detailed in our recently-released report," the Ambassador said. At a conference of the Parliamentary NATO Club, Foreign Ministry State Secretary Andr�s Barsony said Hungary was prepared to play a more prominent role in European defense issues. "The time is ripe for radical reform in NATO�s way of thinking and strategy," Barsony said. NATO�s director of information Jamie Shea, who came to prominence as the Alliance�s spokesman during the Kosovo campaign, also spoke at the conference, saying that among issues of enlargement and relations with Russia, the forthcoming NATO summit in Prague would also tackle the issue of biological and chemical weapons. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo! http://sbc.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu 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 ==^================================================================
