The U.S. will mobilise "sufficient force to win" a war against Iraq and will then dedicate itself to rebuilding the country into a unified, democratic state, US national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said in a newspaper interview.
Rice, in an interview published in the Financial Times on Monday, said "the United States would want to be thought of as liberators" dedicated to the "democratisation or the march of freedom in the Muslim world".
Rice added that the international community "can't afford to make the mistake of the past 11 years and let him (Saddam) slip out again." She stressed that US President George W. Bush wanted "a Security Council resolution that has effective measures".
"He would not have gone down the road if he did not want this road to succeed. We have nonetheless to be clear that we really do mean effective, not halfway measures."
"If the Security Council - and we respect people's different views - If the Security Council cannot come to terms with strong action, the United States, with whomever else would like to join us, will have to take care of the problem," she said.
The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States "clarified a lot about the kinds of threats that you face in the post-cold-war era," Rice conveyed. "Post 9/11, you have to look at the number of threats that are not deterable. We had no warning on September 11. "We worry a good deal more."
She said the United States wanted to support "reformist elements" within Islam, mentioning Qatar, Bahrain and "to a certain extent" Jordan. The United States has "a preponderance of military power," the national security advisor said.
Meanwhile, prominent members of the U.S. Congress warned Sunday that a unilateral U.S. attack on Iraq could draw in Israel and lead to a wider Arab-Israeli war.
Senator Joseph Biden, chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said if the Israelis became involved "it becomes an Arab-Israeli war."
Biden and others appearing on Sunday television talk shows responded to a New York Times report that Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had told the Bush administration he would hit back if Iraq attacks Israel. (Albawaba.com)
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