General tells Bush: Don't go it alone

NORMAN SCHWARZKOPF, the US general who commanded allied forces during the Gulf War, joined a growing number of senior US military and political figures yesterday who are opposed to a unilateral invasion of Iraq and said President Bush ìshould not go it aloneî.

General Schwarzkopf, now retired from the US Army but still a commanding voice on matters relating to Iraq, said that the success of Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and the expulsion of President Saddam Husseinís troops from Kuwait was almost entirely based on the existence of a broad international coalition. He said: ìIn the Gulf War we had an international force and troops from many nations. We would be lacking if we went it alone at this time.î

He emphasised the dangers of an invasion without international consensus and military support because of the size and strength of the Iraqi Army. ìIt is not going to be an easy battle but it would be much more effective if we didnít have to do it alone,î he said.

To be effective, a US-led invasion would need launching points not only from Kuwait and Turkey, but also from Saudi Arabia, which Riyadh has so far pointedly refused, he added.

Wesley Clark, the retired general who led the Nato alliance during the Kosovo campaign, also joined the voices counselling against an invasion without international co-operation.

In an article for the September issue of The Washington Monthly, he said: ìThe early successes (in Afghanistan) seem to have reinforced the conviction of some within the US Government that the continuing war on terrorism is best waged outside the structures of international institutions. This is a fundamental misjudgment. The longer the war goes on . . . the more our success will depend on the willing co-operation and active participation of our allies.î

Brent Scowcroft, who was the National Security Adviser to the first President Bush and who is a close friend of the Bush family, said last week that US action against Iraq, without resolving tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, ìcould turn the whole region into a cauldron and thus destroy the war on terrorismî.

Richard Armey, the Texan House majority leader and a close presidential ally, said that an ìunprovoked attackî on Iraq would be unjustifiable.

Mr Bushís hopes of international support suffered a further blow yesterday with the confirmation that Russia and Iraq are about to agree to a five-year economic co-operation plan worth £27 billion. Abbas Khalaf, Iraqís Ambassador to Moscow, said that the agreement would probably be signed in Baghdad at the beginning of September.

Mr Khalaf said that the new agreement will enable Russia to help Iraq to modernise much of its infrastructure, which was built by Soviet or Russian specialists.

President Putin supports lifting United Nations sanctions against Iraq in the hope that Baghdad will start paying off debts that were amassed in Soviet times. Mr Bush also faced accusations of hypocrisy over his claims that Saddamís use of chemical weapons justified ìregime changeî. The New York Times said that covert US support for Iraq during its war against Iran in the 1980s would have included the realisation that Saddam was using gas and chemical weapons.