Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Baszn Özeti
January
11, 2001 New York Trmes
Iraq Is Focal Point as Bush Meets With Joint Chiefs
-By ERIG-SCHMITT-and JAMES-DAO ----
WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 - George W. Bush, the nation's commander in chief to be, went to the Pentagon today
for a top-secret session with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to review hot spots around the world where he might have
to send American forces into harm's way.
About half of the 75-minute meeting in the secure conference room where the military chiefs conduct their most
sensitive business, focused on a discussion about Iraq and the Persian Gulf, two participants said. Iraq was the
first topic briefed because "it's the most visible and most risky area" Mr. Bush will confront after he takes office,
one senior officer said. Mr. Bush did not say how he would deal with Iraq, the participants said, but asked several
questions about President Saddam Hussein and American allies in the region, before the generals briefing him
addressed other possible flashpoints, including the Balkans and the Korean peninsula.
"Iraqi policy is very much on his mind," one senior Pentagon
official said. "Saddam was clearly a discussion point."
Iraq looms large among the national security challenges Mr. Bush will face. During the campaign, he criticized the
Clinton adffiinistration as allowing the international coalition against Iraq to erode, and for permitting sanctions
against Iraq to loosen. But it was the president-elect's father, President George Bush, who left Mr. Clinton with
what critics say was unfinished business, by defeating Mr. Hussein in the 1991 Persian Gulf war, but not dislodging
him. .
In the past year, Mr. Bush and his advisers have talked about strengthening the sanctions and bolstering the fragmented
Iraqi opposition groups, but the president-elect has been careful not to layout a specific strategy.
Mr. Bush arrived at the Pentagon this morning surrounded by a cast familiar with the building: Vice Presidentelect
Dick Cheney, who was secretary of defense under Mr. Bush's father; Gen. Colin L. Powell, the secretary of
state- designate and former chairmanof the Joint Chiefs; Donald H. Rumsfeld, a former secretary of defense who
is Mr. Bush's choice for the same job; and Condoleezza Rice, the president-elect's pick for national security adviser.
Defense Secretary William S. Cohen held a 45-minute briefing in his office for the group, touching on a variety
of issues, including the nation's nuclear arsenal, before.the session with the Joint Chiefs.
Hours after his meetIng with Mr. Bush, Mr. Cohen gave a speech that was part valedictory and part rebuttal to
Mr. Bush's repeated criticisms against the Clinton administration's military policies during the campaign.
On Iraq, for instance, Mr. Cohen argued that sanctions had worked. "Saddam Hussein's forces are in a state where
he cannot pose a threat to his neighbors at this point," he said. "We have been successful, through the sanctions regime,
to really shut off most of the revenue that will be going to rebuild his military."
In a courtly m~er, without ~enti~~ing Mr. Bu~h or h~ supporters by name, Mr. Cohen time and again suggested
~at the Repubhcans had ~versrmpl~Ied defense Issues like peacekeeping in the Balkans and building a ballistic missile
defense system, a subject that dId not come up at today's Pentagon briefings.
In the campaign, for instance, Mr. Bush asserted that Mr. Clinton's defense policies had caused military morale to
plummet and weapons systems to fall into disrepair. .
But Mr. Cohen argued today that policies supported by the Clinton administration and approved by Congress in the
past two years would lead to an increase in Pentagon spending of $227 billion by the year 2007.
Much. of that increase will be for personnel costs, including pay increases and improved pension and health care
benefIts. But mu~ will also ~o t.o~ard maintaining and modernizing weapons systems. The increase outlined by
~'. Cohen today IS actually SIgnificantly more than what Mr. Bush proposed during the campaign, which was $45
billi~n.over.10 years: Though~. Cohen did not layout that contrast, he seemed to be suggesting that the Clinton
adminIStration had already achieved more than anything Mr. Bush had even proposed during the campaign.
Mr. Cohen also took iss~e with s~ggestions by Ms. Rice that it might be necessary to set up ~tema:tional
to carry out peacekeepmg functions that are now the responsibilitY of soldiers.
police forces
"Some people say, 'Why don't we just train people to be peacekeepers, a certain segment of our military to be pea-
40