CIA Raised a Prudent Opinion About Attacking Iraq

▽Sending Predator to Iraq=The MSNBC quoted the US government officials and reported that the US Air Force transferred the unmanned aircraft ‘RQ-IB Predator,’ which loaded two air-to-air the Hell Fire missiles, to southern Iraq and succeeded partially to hit at least one Iraqi anti-aircraft facility.

It was the US CIA, which use the armed Predator during the Afghanistan combats, to use it in real combat for the first time. The broadcasting added that the US Air Force recently sent the Predators in Iraq for patrolling missions and used it to the anti-aircraft facilities, not people.

The armed predators are not only armed with missiles but also sending high resolution image data in real time to the military and government commanding centers.

▽The analysis of CIA that contradicts the justice for starting the war=The foreign news reported that the Director of the CIA, George Tennet said through the report that he sent to the Joint Hearing of the Senate and House Intelligence Committee, “In case there are high tension in Iraq that the attack of America is near, there is a chance for Hussein to support the Islamic extremist to attack America with massive killing weapons.”

The Director Tennet explained, “Hussein might think to use the terror attack, which kills massive Americans, as his final chance to revenge if he can avoid the attack of America.”

The analysis of CIA contradicted to the George W. Bush Administration, which try to find a justice to start the Iraqi War using the possibility of Iraqi containment offensive, so it will put more weight on the prudent opinions in the US Congress led by the Democratic Party before the vote for the Resolution on the 10th.

The US House will discuss about the Iraq Resolution for 21 hours from the 8th, and then go to vote on the 10th. The Senate started to discuss about the Iraq Resolution on that day, but Senator Robert Bird (Democratic. West Virginia), who objected to the Resolution, seemed to use a tactic to delay the final vote, so the Senate vote could go to next week.

▽Survey and criticism by 소로스=At the survey done in collaboration with the USA Today, the CNN, and the Gallop, 66% of the respondents answered, “We can attack Iraq with the possibility of attacking America by Iraq alone, and we must attack.”

The former CEO of the Quantum Fund, George 소로스, who has huge influence on the international financial world criticized, “The ‘cowboys’ in the US Administration are leading the policies against Iraq to the opposite direction of the international society.”

He strongly criticized that the President Bush was pressing the containment offensive against Iraq during the open discussion with the Dean of the London Politics and Economics College, Anthony Giddons.

Rae-Jeong Park ecopark@donga.com