warsandrumorsofwars

Tuesday, February 25, 2003

WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS
Iran, Libya, Syria are next?
Defense adviser says U.S. wants regime changes in these countries

Posted: February 25, 2003
12:30 p.m. Eastern

After Saddam Hussein is ousted, United States foreign policy plans call for regime change in Iran, Libya and Syria, reports World Tribune.com.

Intensifying concerns of Arab leaders who feel caught between a rock and a hard place over the issue of war against Iraq, a U.S. official told Arab journalists the tactic would differ for each country, but the end result would be the same – democracy throughout the Arab world.

"Change is needed in all those three countries, and a few others besides," Richard Perle told the London-based author and analyst Amir Taheri.

Perle is chairman of the U.S. Defense Advisory Board and is said to be one of the architects in the Bush administration of the proposed regime change in Iraq, according to the newssite.

He added that he felt U.S. intervention may only be necessary in Libya and that reform can come from within in Iran and Syria. He would not elaborate on what U.S. intervention might entail.

"As for Libya, it is a weird case," Perle told Taheri. "For the time being it is out of world reality. But the colonel knows that we have our eyes on him."

Perle asserted Arab leaders would support U.S. policy in the Middle East, as a dozen countries are behind the U.S. effort against Hussein.

"Not a single Arab state is making the slightest move against our policy on this issue," Perle said. "And at least a dozen are actively cooperating with us in whatever field we require. What interests me is that almost all Arab states are showing a sense of realism and an understanding of their own interests on this issue."

According to Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton has made a pronouncement similar to Perle's. The intelligence newsletter reported this week that Bolton said in meetings with Israeli officials that he has no doubt America will attack Iraq, and that it will be necessary to deal with threats from Syria, Iran and North Korea afterwards.

Perle's confidence in Arab support runs contrary to public declarations made by Arab leaders.

As WorldNetDaily reported, Arab foreign ministers issued a resolution earlier this month rejecting war against Iraq and urging Arabs abstain from supporting any such aggression.

After convening an emergency session in Cairo, the Arab League declared aggression against either Iraq or Kuwait a "threat to the national security of all Arab states."

The Arab League resolution warned the international community of the "dangers" and "grave implications" of military aggression against "Iraq, its people and its territorial integrity" and war against the region overall, which the resolution asserts continues to suffer "as a result of the continued Israeli policy of occupation and destruction against the unarmed Palestinian people and their legitimate national rights."

Arab leaders back Saddam