US mobilizes biggest force since 1991 Gulf War
( 2001-09-24 16:29 ) (7 )

As US forces took up positions around the world on Monday, Islamic countries warned against any unilateral retribution for attacks on the United States that could sow the seeds of another whirlwind of violence.

With the British foreign secretary and the European Union beginning trips to the Middle East and Asia on Monday, Islamic leaders also urged a halt to Israeli attacks on Palestinians.

Iran and Syria said on Sunday any unilateral "anti-terrorism" offensive would have grave ramifications and should be under the United Nations, the official Iranian news agency IRNA said.

"If the United States attacks Afghanistan, the crisis will grow," IRNA quoted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as saying in a telephone conversation with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami.

Iran and Syria, both on Washington's list of alleged state sponsors of terrorism, have condemned the assault on US symbols of power and wealth.

President George W. Bush has said all evidence so far pointed to wealthy, Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, who lives in Afghanistan as the "guest" of its ruling Taliban, as responsible for the suicide plane attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that left 6,800 people dead or missing.

Washington has warned Kabul it could face attack if he is not turned over to the United States.

GULF STATES QUALIFIED SUPPORT

Gulf Arab states pledged support on Sunday for the US-led drive to bring to justice those behind the attacks.

Saudi Arabia and its five allies in the Gulf Cooperation Council -- all of whom took part in the 1991 US-led war against Iraq -- didn't specify what help the oil-rich states could offer.

The Washington Post said on Saturday Saudi Arabia resisted a US request to use a new command centre at a Saudi base.

Bin Laden has cited the continued deployment of US forces in Saudi Arabia that began during the 1990-91 Gulf Crisis and which he sees as a desecration of Islam's holiest shrines as the genesis of his "holy war" against the United States.

Asked how Gulf states would view a US attack on Muslim Afghanistan, a Gulf official who attended the meeting said: "It is not acceptable. It's too much. This would be American terrorism on poor hapless people."

With growing calls in the Arab world for an international alliance to stop Israeli attacks on Palestinians, the meeting also urged the UN Security Council, the United States, Russia and the EU "not to be distracted from state terrorism practiced by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people".

Diplomats and analysts say an offensive against Afghanistan might provoke attacks on American interests in pro-Western Gulf Arab countries and moderate Muslim countries in Asia.

EMBARRASSED BY SUPPORT

Analysts said Saudi Arabia and some of its Gulf allies felt embarrassed by popular support in their countries for bin Laden.

"They must get something in return," said Abdelbari Atwa, editor of the London-based al-Qods. "The West, particularly the US, must realise that terrorism has political roots. The Arab-Israel conflict and failure to achieve a just settlement is also an embarrassment."

Nevertheless, the United States won its first victory in the region when the United Arab Emirates on Saturday broke off diplomatic relations with Afghanistan's Taliban.

Washington is trying to build a global coalition that would not only back retaliation for the worst single attack on US soil but root out extremist networks, led by bin Laden's shadowy al Qaeda organisation, by cutting off their financial lifelines.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Washington was broadening its investigations into their financial sources.

Facing an enemy operating in 60 countries, including in Europe and the United States, US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld said troops would not be engaged in a conventional war.

BIGGEST MOBILISATION SINCE GULF

The United States was positioning military forces around the world in its biggest mobilisation since the 1991 Gulf War, with B-1 and B-52 bombers, dozens of fighters, and support aircraft ordered to the Gulf and Indian Ocean region, along with elite Special Operations troops.

Defense officials, who asked not to be identified, said about a dozen more aircraft, including refueling planes, would soon be moved to the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean to join nearly 350 US warplanes at land bases and on two aircraft carriers.

A US military team was in Pakistan on Monday to discuss Washington's hunt for bin Laden, the world's most wanted man.

On the diplomatic front, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw begins a groundbreaking trip to Iran on Monday -- the first by a British foreign secretary since the 1979 Islamic revolution -- on a tour that also takes him to Israel, Jordan and Egypt.

The EU team, led by Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, also sets out on Monday on a week-long trip which will take it to six predominantly Muslim nations -- Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Syria.

The tour is a "coalition-building trip", one EU diplomat said. "The EU has special ties with Arab countries. This can be helpful in coalition building."

The EU leaders declared the United States was entitled to strike back at those responsible and states that aid them. They also called for the "broadest possible global coalition against terrorism" under the aegis of the United Nations.