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'Pre-emption not prerogative of one country'

'Pre-emption not prerogative of one country'

Author: Report by Vasant Arora
Publication: The Free Press Journal
Date: September 30, 2002

Indian Finance Minister Jaswant Singh discussed the Iraq issue with US Secretary of State Colin Powell and later said cryptically that pre-emption was not the sole prerogative of any one country.

"Pre-emption is not the sole prerogative of any one country," Singh told newsmen on Sunday night after a meeting with Powell with whom he had developed a close rapport as External Affairs Minister during which they discussed the 'evolving situation' in Iraq.

Singh explained that inherent in deterrence was prevention.  "What is the difference between pre-emption and deterrence?" he raised the question and referred to Article 51 of UN charter which talks of the right to self-defence.

"At one level, you have a situation in which nothing revolutionary or new is being cited.  What is being asserted here is very inherent in the Article 51 which applied to all states that subscribe to the UN Charter," Singh said.  "This was complex academic discussion," he said.

Singh was referring to the ongoing debate in the US over the case being built by administration hawks for an attack on Iraq.  Section of the administration led by Vice President Dick Cheney and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld favour a pre-emptive strike on Baghdad for its perceived refusal to open up its facilities to UIN weapons inspectors.

This policy of pre-emption and unilateralism is being opposed as a 'dangerous doctrine' by people in the administration and Congress, who say it could set precedents for attack by other countries against their rivals, 'among others India'.

Singh, who participated in the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund that ended on Sunday night also met Richard Haass, director of Policy Planning in the State Department.  Singh said, "There is a situation in Iraq where the US congress is contemplating a resolution on Iraq.  A resolution has also been contemplated by the UN Security Council.
 


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