Monday, Jan 27, 2003
Monday, Jan 27, 2003 |
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Addressing the World Economic Forum, an annual gathering of over 2,000 political and business leaders here, the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, said "it is crucial that they both take risks for peace on the subcontinent and work to normalise their relations". ``No American `hidden hand' can remove the distrust between India and Pakistan. That they must do for themselves." Gen. Powell said he believed the U.S. was instrumental in calming tensions between India and Pakistan last year, but added that there was still much to be done. ``The United States has extended a helping hand to both India and Pakistan; we stand ready to do so again.''
Iraq `failed the test'
Gen. Powell said that Iraq had ``failed the test'' with its weapons declaration and the U.S. was willing to launch an attack on its own if the U.N. Security Council shrank from disarming the Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein. In a speech to muster European support for a tough line against Iraq, he made few concessions to European doubts about the wisdom of invading the country while U.N. inspectors were still searching for suspected weapons of mass destruction. He mixed reassurances that the Bush administration would be patient and consult its allies with warnings that time was short and Washington would not wait forever. ``We are in no great rush to judgment today or tomorrow but it's clear that time is running out.'' ``Multilateralism cannot become an excuse for inaction,'' he said, referring to opposition to an early war among key veto-holding members of the U.N. Security Council — France, China and Russia. "We will work through these issues patiently and deliberately with our friends and allies... Let the Iraqi regime have no doubt, however. If it does not disarm peacefully at this juncture, it will be disarmed at the end of the road. We will not shrink from war if that is the only way to rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction. We continue to reserve our sovereign right to take military action against Iraq alone or in a coalition of the willing."
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