Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen Saturday visited U.S. fliers policing a "no-fly" zone over northern Iraq and said the world must keep pressure on Baghdad over deadly chemical and biological arms. He spoke after U.N. weapons inspectors reported this week that they had made virtually no progress over the past six months in verifying that Iraq had destroyed any remaining weapons of mass destruction after the 1991 Gulf War, a key condition for lifting sanctions against Baghdad. Cohen flew to this base in southern Turkey from Ankara on the second day of a tour of southern Europe and the Middle East to cement ties with NATO allies Turkey and Greece and reassert U.S. support for the stalled Middle East peace process. Speaking to reporters travelling with him on his aircraft, he said it was not enough for Iraq's President Saddam Hussein just to open his palaces and other sites to U.N. weapons inspectors, he must provide solid proof that he had destroyed all chemical and biological arms. "He has an obligation to show proof positive of where, when, how and under what circumstances the materials were destroyed," Cohen said. "Until he does that, there should be no lifting of the sanctions." More than 50 U.S., Turkish and British warplanes -- most of them American -- fly daily out of this Turkish base to assure compliance with U.N. orders for Iraq's military not to attack Kurds in northern Iraq. American jets based in several Gulf states and on two aircraft carriers in the Gulf patrol a similar "no-fly" zone over southern Iraq set up after the 1991 Gulf War to make sure Iraqi forces did not again threaten Kuwait or attack Shiite Muslims in southern Iraq. Cohen and U.S. officials have warned repeatedly that although Iraq recently allowed U.N. arms inspection teams into previously-forbidden sites to search for weapons of mass destruction, Baghdad has not provided proof of assertions that it has ended a program to develop such arms. Richard Butler, the chief arms inspector, said in a report for the Security Council and obtained by Reuters that a series of crises when Iraq disrupted the work of the inspectors during the past six months had made it impossible for his experts to do their work. "A major consequence of the four-month crisis authorized by Iraq has been that, in contrast with the prior reporting period, virtually no progress in verifying disarmament has been able to be reported," he said in his 36-page biannual report. The United States gathered a major military force, including more than 300 warplanes, in the Gulf region during the recent crisis to threaten Baghdad, and has said the force would not be reduced until Washington was sure that Iraq would continue to comply with inspections. Cohen told reporters aboard his aircraft en route to Jordan later Saturday that the United States was currently analyzing whether to reduce its Gulf force, but stressed that no decision had been made. The U.S. aircraft carriers Independence and John Stennis are now in the Gulf, but the Independence is due to leave in mid-May. The carrier Eisenhower is scheduled for a six-month deployment from Norfolk, Virginia, beginning in June, but it will have to leave Norfolk soon if the United States wants to keep two carriers near Iraq, unless the Independence stays there beyond its own departure date. Asked if a force reduction would send the wrong message to Iraq, Cohen said that a number of factors -- including Security Council reaction to the new inspectors' report -- would enter into his recommendation on the matter to President Bill Clinton. "We may be able to structure it (the force) in a way that allows us to have a surge capacity in the event that we decide to downsize the force, so that we could reconstitute it quickly," he said. "A lot will depend on our consultations with the Gulf states," Cohen added, noting that Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston, vice chairman of the U.S. military Joint Chiefs of Staff, would visit Bahrain Sunday. -- Two rules in life: 1. Don't tell people everything you know. 2. Subscribe/Unsubscribe, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the body of the message enter: subscribe/unsubscribe law-issues
