NYPost

BUSH TO SADDAM: YOU MAY BE NEXT

By DEBORAH ORIN

October 10, 2001 -- WASHINGTON - The Bush administration delivered a blunt warning to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein this week that the United States would launch military strikes against his country if he tried to assist anti-American forces in Afghanistan, it was reported today.

John Negroponte, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, personally carried the message to Iraq's senior U.N. envoy at the Iraqi mission Sunday, shortly after the first airstrikes were launched, according to senior U.S. and U.N. diplomats.

"There will be a military strike against you and you will be defeated," Negroponte told Iraqi envoy Mohammed Douri, according to a U.N. diplomat, The Washington Post said.

The Iraqi ambassador returned Monday to the U.S. Mission to assure Negroponte that Baghdad had no intention of undertaking military action.

As the United States put Iraq on notice, two key senators, Republican John McCain and Democratic leader Tom Daschle, predicted the war on terror could expand to other sponsors of terrorism.

"I don't think we can avoid that. If indeed we are going after a worldwide network, we have to treat this issue and this challenge in a worldwide way," Daschle told CBS.

"We're doing that now, and I think you'll see expansion, although I have no information that would lead me to conclude that it's going to happen any time real soon."

McCain, a military expert and Vietnam POW, pointed out Iraq, Syria, Sudan and Iran as countries that could be targets if they continue to harbor and help terrorists.

"All of those countries are well-known to have not only supported terrorists but to have supported organizations that have already inflicted death and damage to American people and assets," he said.

He agreed that Afghanistan and hunting Osama bin Laden comes first - but suggested Operation Enduring Freedom may grow larger.

"I'm sure that planning is under way at this time, but I don't believe that you're going to see military action against any other country until this particular situation in Afghanistan is handled," he told ABC.

"The president keeps emphasizing that all nations who harbor terrorists and all nations who continue to carry out the activities such as Saddam Hussein is involved in are going to either dramatically change the way that they're doing business or they will be subject to U.S. responses."

They spoke a day after Negroponte sent the world body a letter stating that America may invoke its right to self-defense on a broader basis than simply against bin Laden and Afghanistan.

There is speculation that Iraq played a role in the plot that led to the Sept. 11 terror attacks - hijack ringleader Mohamed Atta is reported to have met with an Iraqi agent in Prague.

Reports say two other bin Laden terrorists linked to the USS Cole bombing were photographed with an Iraqi agent in Malaysia.

Just yesterday, when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was asked if bin Laden's henchmen have access to chemical and germ warfare, he noted that they have links with states that do - citing Iraq in particular.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2001