EU, RUSSIA - Downplay war talk

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EU, Russia Try to Downplay 'War' Talk

While leaders of the 15 European Union nations vowed Friday to help chase down the perpetrators of the attacks on the United States, many also sought to reassure their citizens that they would not blindly follow the U.S. into a full-fledged war.

Meanwhile, Russia's defense minister voiced skepticism at the feasibility of a U.S.-led anti-terrorist operation against Afghanistan from Central Asia.

In a joint statement, the EU's presidents and prime ministers issued a blueprint for a joint anti-terrorism policy, urging a common judicial and foreign policy approach and better coordination between the different state security organizations.

"We will not, under any circumstances, allow those responsible to find refuge, wherever they may be," said the statement from French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the other European leaders.

"Those responsible for hiding, supporting or harboring the perpetrators, organizers and sponsors of these acts will be held accountable.''

However, French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, who led his Cabinet in a Europe-wide three-minute moment of silence, said, "We are not at war against Islam or the Arab-Muslim world."

Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, speaking on RTL radio in France, said that the EU is "on watch" and "mobilized," but he added, "We are not at war."

The remarks, coupled with similar statements elsewhere, suggested growing concern that retaliation for the attacks not plunge the West into a full-blown crisis.

President Bush has repeatedly used the word "war" in describing the situation created by the attacks. "We have just seen the first war of the 21st century," he said Thursday.

European leaders were clearly keen on avoiding such bellicose language.

The Tuesday attacks "call for very strong words, but I don't think we should be extreme," the Belgian foreign minister cautioned. His words echoed those Thursday by German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping, who urged a "measured" response to the U.S. terrorist attacks and warned against hysteria.

Jospin added in his comments to his Cabinet that French "human, political and functional solidarity (with the United States) does not deprive us of our free appreciation of our sovereignty."

Also Friday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov tried to squelch speculation that a U.S.-led anti-terrorist operation could be launched against Afghanistan from formerly Soviet Central Asia.

"I don't see any basis for even the hypothetical possibility of NATO military operations on the territory of Central Asian nations that belong to the Commonwealth of Independent States," Ivanov told reporters in the Armenian capital Yerevan.

He announced that the chiefs of the army general staffs of the 12 countries of the CIS — a loose grouping of formerly Soviet states — would meet in Moscow on Sept. 26 to discuss coordination of military steps against terrorism.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage is scheduled to hold talks on joint anti-terrorist efforts in the Russian capital next week.

Gen. Anatoly Kvashnin, the head of the Russian General Staff, said it was unlikely that the Russian armed forces would take part in "acts of revenge" for this week's deadly attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Interfax news agency reported.

"The United States has powerful enough military forces that it can cope with this task on its own," Kvashnin was quoted as saying.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday that alleged terrorist mastermind Usama bin Laden was the top suspect in the attacks. Afghanistan's ruling Taliban have given bin Laden refuge in their country.

Kvashnin said that according to his information, bin Laden is now hiding in the mountains around Kandahar, the southern Afghan city where the Taliban headquarters is located.

Russia has about 25,000 troops stationed in Tajikistan, which borders Afghanistan and is one of the few countries from which an offensive could be launched. Impoverished Tajikistan is still trying to recover from a five-year civil war between mostly Islamic opposition forces and the hard-line secular government, and it is frequently wracked by violence.

Nikolai Kovalyov, the former head of Russia's Federal Security Service, the KGB's main successor, warned Friday that a U.S. attack on Afghanistan would fail to reach bin Laden and would backfire on the United States.

"In Afghanistan's mountainous terrain, it takes a trainload of explosives to destroy three militants," he said at a news conference. "The chance of hitting bin Laden is zero."

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2001

Answers

One hydrogen bomb should do it, then. It worked on Japan. so well, in fact, that we dropped two.

I don't see the taliban giving us that guy, and I don't want to see that guy rotting in jail, being paid for by taxes.

I do see some of our 'NATO friends' beginning to distance themselves from a world crisis, and letting the US take the lead.

So be it. But they can be sure that we will never let them forget it when it's over.

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2001


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