US to flush out WMD
2003-06-05 09:03
Washington - The United States will attempt to "roll back" proliferation of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons in the world - and may use force to take away these deadly arsenals from rogue states, a senior US government official warned on Wednesday.
Under Secretary of State John Bolton also told Congress that Washington will not offer disarmament inducements to North Korea, will punish suppliers of dual-use materials, and was going to offer Iraqi scientists specialising in weapons of mass destruction (WMD) a chance to emigrate, presumably to the United States.
"We aim ultimately not just to prevent the spread of WMD, but also to eliminate or 'roll back' such weapons from rogue states and terrorist groups that already possess them or are close to doing so," Bolton told the House Committee on International Relations.
He noted that while the administration of President George W Bush favoured peaceful and diplomatic solutions to the proliferation threat, it ruled out no options.
The United States and its allies must be willing to use in this pursuit economic sanctions, interdiction and seizure of materials that could be used to manufacture weapons of mass destruction, and, Bolton also pointed out, "preemptive military force where required.
"Moreover, the logic of adverse consequences must fall not only on the states aspiring to possess these weapons, but on the states supplying them as well," he warned, without specifying what these consequences might be.
The United States has repeatedly accused Russia, China and some cash-starved former Soviet republics of supplying sensitive, dual-use technologies to Iran, Libya, North Korea and other countries deemed by Washington a proliferation threat.
In its most recent report on proliferation, the US Central Intelligence Agency named Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Libya, Syria, Sudan, India and Pakistan among countries with the most active weapons of mass destruction amd missile programmes.
Bolton's warning followed Bush's announcement last week in Poland of a so-called Proliferation Security Initiative that aims to broaden international cooperation in interdicting shipments of WMD- and missile-related equipment and technologies.
As part of this broad campaign, the United States will offer Iraqi weapons scientists an opportunity to emigrate - along with designing a system "to keep tabs on their whereabouts in Iraq" because of serious concern that rogue states or terrorist organisations will try to hire them, said the under secretary of state.
Bolton accused Iran of developing a uranium mine, uranium conversion and enrichment facilities, and a heavy water production plant, as part of its clandestine nuclear weapons programme. He said the United States was looking forward to hear a report on this subject later this month from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed ElBaradei.
"If the IAEA finds that Irans nuclear activities are not in compliance with its safeguards obligations, the case would be compelling that the international community should oppose uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing capabilities in Iran and halt all nuclear cooperation with Iran," he said.