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Paris move signals growing rift with U.S.

By Atul Aneja

MANAMA FEB. 18. In yet another indication of the growing rift between France and the United States, Paris has decided to bring home its aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle from the Mediterranean Sea, setting back the possibility of its participation in a war against Iraq.

The French move comes at a time when the U.S. is engaged in positioning its aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea for possible attacks against Iraq. Britain has also pitched in, in this effort, by deploying its carrier Ark Royal in the battle zone.

Differing French and the U.S. perceptions over Iraq, also appear to have found a reflection in the Arab world. Kuwait, a close ally of the U. S., has officially complained about Lebanon's handling of the weekend meeting of the Arab League Foreign Ministers in Cairo.

Distancing itself from the communiqué that advocated that members should deny the use of their facilities or assistance for any attack on Iraq, Kuwait has said the meeting "resulted in the declaration of a statement on Iraq that does not meet the viewpoints of countries who have a different perspective on the issue".

According to analysts, Kuwait is uncomfortable with the Arab resolution, proposed by Syria, as it hosts around 120,000 U.S. troops on its territory and is expected to be the key launch pad for a southern offensive against Iraq.

Bahrain, another Persian Gulf State is home to the U.S. fifth fleet while Qatar is expected to serve as the advanced command post for the U.S. Central Command in case hostilities break out. In a memorandum submitted to the Arab League, Kuwait has faulted Lebanon for bypassing established procedure for conducting the meeting. According to a Kuwait official, "this is the first meeting in which the final communiqué was not referred to the "Drafting committee."

Reinforcing the Kuwaiti objection, a number of Kuwaiti lawmakers have reportedly called on their Government to freeze aid to Lebanon and withdraw the country's Ambassador to Beirut.

Lebanon, which currently chairs the Arab League and Syria have been in regular dialogue with France recently.

France and Russia have reportedly approached Lebanon for seeking an Arab League endorsement for a tripartite statement authored by Paris, Berlin and Moscow, advocating that the U.N. weapons inspections in Iraq should be allowed to run their course.

Both Syria and Lebanon strongly oppose a possible war as they fear that the U.S. military presence in Iraq, after the conflict is over, will subject them to intense joint U.S. and Israel military pressure.

Dispute

According to reports, the Arab Foreign Ministers, at their Sharm-el-Sheikh meet, differed strongly on whether to pin the main responsibility for defusing the Iraqi crisis on Washington or Baghdad. It was this dispute over whether Washington or Baghdad should be doing more to avert war that resulted in the failure of the Ministers, agreeing on a date proposed by Egypt, for holding an emergency Arab League summit on Iraq.

In a temporary setback for the U.S. preparations to open a northern front against Iraq, Turkey, the springboard for such an action, has said that it was delaying considering a resolution in its Parliament that would allow the U.S. to station some, and transit a large number of its troops into northern Iraq.

The Turkish hold-up is attributed to the difficulties being encountered in fixing the compensation package for Ankara to offset the negative economic impact of the possible war. In a development that is likely to encourage the "peace-camp", U-2 spy-planes resumed their flights on Monday for some time in support of the U.N. inspection team.

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