China's presence in Iraq disturbing: Bush

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, FEB. 23. The President, Mr. George W Bush, has said that he is disturbed by reports of China assisting Iraq to have a more sophisticated and effective defence. ``It is troubling that they (the Chinese) be involved in helping Iraq develop a system that will endanger our pilots,'' Mr. Bush told reporters at the White House.

It was Mr. Bush's first full-fledged press conference after assuming office last month and the President touched on a wide range of domestic and international issues. ``We are concerned about the Chinese presence in Iraq,'' Mr. Bush said, adding that his administration was sending the ``appropriate response'' to Beijing. The State Department said no reply had been received so far from Beijing in this regard.

Iraq is expected to be high on the agenda of the talks between Mr. Bush and the visiting British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, tomorrow. Mr. Blair is in Canada today on a State visit. He will have separate meetings with the Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, prior to the latter's departure to West Asia and the President at Camp David. The Bush-Blair talks take place ahead of the Iraqi Foreign Minister's visit to the U.N. next week. The Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, will try and persuade Baghdad to cooperate on weapons inspectors returning to the country. Iraq has said that this is not on the agenda of the New York meetings slated for February 26 and February 27.

Britain and the U.S. are perhaps the only major powers among the permanent members of the Security Council in favour of the Security Council sanctions on Iraq continuing. Now Washington and London are toying with the idea of ``smart sanctions'' or punitive measures that will primarily target Mr. Saddam Hussein but spare the people of Iraq.

Mr. Bush also spoke about Gen. Powell's upcoming visit to West Asia, which among other things is to consult with allies on the Iraq policy. ``The Secretary of State is going to listen to our allies as to how best to affect a policy, the primary goal of which will be to say to Saddam Hussein, `We won't tolerate you developing weapons of mass destruction and we expect you to leave your neighbours alone,''' the President remarked.

The President spoke of Iraq on the same day that American and British planes hit anti-aircraft artillery sites in Iraq near Mosul for the second time in less than a week. This time around, the Pentagon is calling the strikes ``more routine'' and less extensive than what it was last Friday. ``The strike is consistent with the way we have been doing business for the last couple of years,'' a spokesman for the Pentagon said. Meanwhile, Mr. Bush has expressed satisfaction with the effectiveness of last week's air strikes. The Pentagon has maintained that less than half of the targeted radars were damaged. ``We had two missions. One was to send a clear message to Saddam. The other was to degrade the capacity of Saddam to injure our pilots. I believe we succeeded in both those missions,'' Mr. Bush responded.

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