[iwar] [fc:U.S..Demands.Arab.Countries.'Choose.Sides']

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-09-16 12:39:47


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Subject: [iwar] [fc:U.S..Demands.Arab.Countries.'Choose.Sides']
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THE COALITION
U.S. Demands Arab Countries 'Choose Sides'
By JANE PERLEZ, New York Times, September 15, 2001

WASHINGTON, Sept.  14 - Moving swiftly in America's new war on
terrorists, a senior State Department official today met with 15 Arab
representatives and gave them a stark choice: either declare their
nations members of an international coalition against terrorism, or risk
being isolated in a growing global conflict. 

Unusually, the meeting included the ambassador of Syria, a country long
on the State Department's list of those that foster terrorism.  It
followed a 98-to-0 vote in the Senate to give President Bush the power
to use "all necessary and appropriate force" to respond to the terror
attacks on the United States this week. 

The House approved the use of force resolution late today by a vote of
420-1. 

President Bush said after the House voted: "I am gratified that the
Congress has united so powerfully by taking this action.  It sends a
clear message - our people are together and we will prevail."

The lone member of Congress to vote against the measure, Rep.  Barbara
J.  Lee, Democrat of California, said the nation risked entering an
open-ended war without a clear target.  She said in a statement, "I am
convinced that military action will not prevent further acts of
international terrorism against the United States."

Mr.  Bush took the first concrete step toward a military response to
Tuesday's acts of terror, giving the Pentagon authority to activate as
many as 50,000 reserve troops to maintain aerial patrols over American
cities and to strengthen security at crucial military and civilian
installations.  Some of the reservists could also be deployed overseas
to provide security at American bases or perform other support missions,
Pentagon officials said. 

As Congress was also voting today to authorize $40 billion for increased
military preparedness and disaster relief, William J.  Burns, assistant
secretary of state for Near East affairs, met with the Arab envoys and
delivered what a senior administration official called a simple message:
"The time has come to choose sides."

The State Department described the nascent antiterror coalition as
embracing "all civilizations," not just the West.  Secretary of State
Colin L.  Powell said at a news conference today, "This has become a new
benchmark, a new way of measuring the relationship and what we can do
together."

Mr.  Burns read to the Arab envoys - who included a representative of
the Palestinians, whose leader, Yasir Arafat, has yet to meet with the
president - a list of actions their nations were expected to take
against terrorism, including the arrest and prosecution of terrorists on
a country's soil. 

In addition, the State Department sent a cable to all its embassies and
posts around the world today listing the conditions that nations were
expected to meet in order to qualify for membership in the antiterror
coalition. 

Quoting from the cable, a State Department official said it included a
demand that each country must "wrap up and prosecute terrorists on your
own soil."

The Arab representatives were not given a deadline for deciding whether
to sign on to the antiterror cause.  Nor was there any discussion of
possible military contributions by the Arab nations represented at the
meeting. 

Whether the Arab governments, which must often contend with significant
segments of their populations who sympathize with the goals of militants
like Osama bin Laden, will agree to the administration's request is an
open question.  Hints that Mr.  Bush may have trouble holding together
the coalition he envisions were not long in coming. 

One of the envoys who met with Mr.  Powell, Nabil Fahmy, the ambassador
from Egypt, warned the administration that it must focus on finding and
punishing those responsible for this week's attacks, and not broaden the
effort to include other geopolitical goals. 

He said the international coalition that waged the Persian Gulf war in
1991 - which included Egypt and Syria - worked because it kept to the
clear objective of pushing the Iraqis out of Kuwait. 

Hours before the session with the Arab diplomats, Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon of Israel spoke to Mr.  Bush, and according to officials,
expressed skepticism about the United States' enlisting the aid of
Israel's foes, Syria and the Palestinian Authority. 

"If there is an attempt to bring Syria and Arafat into the coalition,
then that is a problem," an Israeli official said. 

Having spent a day attending a national prayer service in Washington and
visiting rescue workers at the remains of the destroyed buildings in
lower Manhattan, Mr.  Bush was planning to meet with members of his
cabinet and his national security advisers during the weekend at Camp
David.  The White House, taking extraordinary security measures,
disclosed few details about the president's schedule over the next
several days. 

Unity was the theme on Capitol Hill as Congress moved with exceptional
speed to express support for the president and provide funds for
retaliation and reconstruction.  Congress was appropriating twice as
much as the $20 billion that the administration had asked for to start
the antiterror campaign. 

"These are different times," said the Senate minority leader, Trent
Lott, Republican of Mississippi.  "And we have got to act decisively. 
The American people expect it of us, and they will accept nothing less."

But some members of Congress also injected a note of caution into the
administration's rapid-fire military and diplomatic campaign.  The
resolution authorizing military action was intended to give the
president political support, but not unfettered power to wage war. 

The joint resolution fell short of a full declaration of war, which
lawmakers said would have been inappropriate in military action against
a shadowy enemy. 

The resolution states: "That the president is authorized to use all
necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or
persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the
terrorist attacks that occurred on Sept.  11, 2001, or harbored such
organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of
international terrorism against the United States by such nations,
organizations or persons."

Senator Joseph R.  Biden Jr., chairman of the Foreign Relations
Committee, said Congress was not ceding its constitutional authority to
declare war or intending to write a measure like the Gulf of Tonkin
resolution, which President Lyndon B.  Johnson used in 1964 to justify
escalation of the war in Vietnam. 

The resolution specifically states that it does not supersede the War
Powers Resolution of 1973, which requires the president to seek
Congressional approval for any extended use of American forces in
combat. 


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