Report: Israel Would Hit Iraq Back

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has informed the Bush administration that he plans to strike back if Iraq attacks Israel, according to Israeli and Western officials quoted in Sunday's New York Times.

The newspaper points out that Sharon's statements, made privately to senior American officials in recent weeks, represent a major shift in Israeli thinking since the 1991 Persian Gulf war, when 39 Iraqi Scud missiles struck without any Israeli response.

His position reflects a widespread belief among Israeli politicians and generals that Arab leaders perceived Israel's restraint in 1991 as weakness, the Times reports. Throughout his military and political career, Sharon has always held that any attack on Israel must be promptly and powerfully punished.

"I don't think there is a scenario in which Israel will get hit and not strike back," a senior Western told the Times. "I think the evolving strategy will be commensurate response."

Sharon's stand has significant implications for the Pentagon, which fears that an Israeli entry would stir up Arab public opinion and make it harder for the Pentagon to maintain cooperation from the Arab states where Washington hopes to base American forces, the Times explains.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Congress on Thursday that it would be in Israel's "overwhelming best interests" not to intervene if the United States went to war with Iraq.

Iraq said Saturday it will not abide by U.N. resolutions threatening war, while across the border in Kuwait a top American general said U.S. forces are ready to attack Iraq.

The sharp words come as world powers wrangle at U.N. headquarters in New York over how to deal with Iraq.

The U.S. and Britain are trying to overcome resistance from veto-wielding Security Council permanent members Russia, China and France to issuing a new U.N. resolution threatening Iraq with war if it does not meet its decade-old obligation to destroy stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.

The Iraqi radio announcement said Baghdad's decision was made during a meeting involving President Saddam Hussein, Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan and other senior Iraqi officials. It did not say when the meeting took place.
"The American officials are trying, according to the media, to issue new, bad resolutions from the Security Council. Iraq declares it will not deal with any new resolution that contradicts of what has been agreed upon with the U.N. Secretary General," the brief announcement said. Iraq's agreement with any Security Council resolution that ultimately may be passed is not necessary for it to be enforced.

The Iraqi statement did not elaborate, but Baghdad is believed to oppose any new U.N. resolution that includes the threat of military strikes on Iraq or a change to the weapons inspections blueprint or the oil-for-food program.

The White House said Iraq's announcement wasn't surprising, according to CBS News correspondent Mark Knoller. Iraq hasn't complied with past resolutions so there was no reason to think it would abide by any in the future, a presidential spokesman said. The announcement is all the more reason for the Security Council to issue a tough new resolution, he continued.

Sean McCormack, a National Security Council spokesman, said Iraq's position that it will not comply with future resolutions is "very disappointing."

"We are working very hard within the international community and specifically in the United Nations to address in an effective way the issue of Iraqi noncompliance," he said. "As the president has said, this is an important test of the United Nation's resolve."

There was also word Saturday that President Bush has received a detailed set of military options to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and neutralize his most dangerous weapons.

A highly classified plan was delivered to Mr. Bush by U.S. Gen. Tommy Franks in September and will undergo refinements in the weeks ahead, a U.S. official told The Associated Press Saturday on condition of anonymity.

"The president has options, he's reviewing them and he has not made any decisions," one U.S. official told Reuters.

The delivery of the options was first reported in The New York Times. The newspaper cited officials familiar with war planning as saying it contained the number of ground troops, combat aircraft and aircraft carrier battle groups that would be needed to knock out Iraq's air defenses and military communications.

Franks, speaking in Kuwait on Saturday, said U.S. soldiers have been training closely with Gulf allies recently and are ready to act against Iraq if needed.

"We are prepared to undertake whatever activities and whatever actions we may be directed to take by our nation," he said. But, he noted at a press conference wrapping up a three-day visit, "our president has not made a decision to go to war."

Iraq had announced on Monday it would accept the unconditional return of weapons inspectors nearly four years after they left. Washington said the move was designed to divide the Security Council and Mr. Bush has dismissed it as a ploy and has not ruled out unilateral American military action.

Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that a primary worry of war planners is the possibility that Iraq would launch a pre-emptive attack on U.S. and allied forces in the region using weapons of mass destruction.

He suggested that Iraq's means of delivering such weapons - by ballistic missile, aircraft or other means - would be among the priority targets at the outset of a U.S. attack.

Rumsfeld told lawmakers that he and his aides were working to answer a wide range of "what if?" questions that could complicate a military operation against Iraq, including the possibility of a desperation move by Saddam to use chemical, biological or radiological weapons or to attack Israel.

Rumsfeld also held out the possibility that Saddam might flee Iraq to avoid a conflict.

In another development Saturday, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said the first group of U.N. arms inspectors could arrive in Iraq in early October. He said the number of inspectors to be admitted and the sites they would examine would have to be negotiated with Iraqi officials in talks in Vienna which begin on September 30.