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作者：Anonymous 在 罕见奇谈 发贴, 来自 http://www.hjclub.org
Britain Brushes Off Rumsfeld 'Go It Alone' Comment
Wed Mar 12, 5:01 AM ET Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo!
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Wednesday the United States knew it could count on significant British military support in a Gulf war (news - web sites), after Washington's signal that it might attack Iraq (news - web sites) on its own.
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Special Coverage
Responding to Tuesday's comments by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on a possible unilateral U.S. attack, British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said Rumsfeld had been speaking only hypothetically.
"What he was clearly talking about was a theoretical possibility that British forces might not be involved," Hoon told BBC Radio.
"But as he said very clearly in his statement, he has every reason to believe there will be a significant military contribution from the United Kingdom."
Rumsfeld said on Tuesday that if for domestic reasons Britain could not participate, "there are work-arounds and they (the British) would not be involved, at least in that phase..."
A U.S. defense official said the remarks had provoked "a firestorm" of reaction from British officials.
Rumsfeld later issued a statement expressing confidence that the forces of America's most prominent ally would be side-by-side with U.S. troops should an attack take place.
A U.S decision to go it alone would be slap in the face for beleaguered British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites), who has gone out on a limb and sparked a revolt in his own Labour Party to support President Bush (news - web sites) in his hawkish stance on Iraq.
Scores of Labour parliamentarians are urging Blair to compromise on a controversial second U.N. resolution which might authorize war against Baghdad.
Hoon suggested that even if the Security Council failed to pass a second resolution, Britain and the United States might wage war on the basis of resolution 1441, passed in November in a bid to make Iraq comply with U.N. demands on disarmament.
"Certainly it is possible to read 1441 in that way," Hoon said. "We have not got to that stage. We have not taken that decision. We are still working for that second resolution.
"But it's equally clear we cannot allow Iraq to string us along with minor concessions, endless delays..."
The British government has always said it would be prepared to go to war without a fresh resolution, although it insists it would prefer a second U.N. mandate if possible.
The United States and Britain currently have more than 250,000 troops gathered in the Gulf region around Iraq.
Of those, just 25,000 are British although the government in London has committed a total of around 42,000 military personnel, including ground troops, to the potential war effort.
作者：Anonymous 在 罕见奇谈 发贴, 来自 http://www.hjclub.org |
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