US must show 'stomach' to win in Iraq: Cheney

By Staff
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Washington, Jan 15: Vice President Dick Cheney said the UnitedStates must show it has the ''stomach'' to win in Iraq or it willconfirm al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's view that Americans can bepressured to leave.

US allies helping in fighting terrorism -- Pakistan, Afghanistan,Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states and Egypt -- must have confidence thatthe United States will stay until a successful outcome, he saidyesterday.

''If the United States doesn't have the stomach to finish the taskin Iraq, we put at risk what we've done in all of those otherlocations,'' he said on ''Fox News Sunday.'' Bin Laden's strategy is topush US presence out of the region through terrorism and Iraq iscurrently at the center of that battle, Cheney said. ''It's absolutelyessential that we win there, and we will win there,'' he said.

Cheney defended the new plan by President George W Bush to send21,500 additional troops to Iraq and said critics had not produced analternative proposal.

Democrats, who took control of Congress this year after winningNovember elections largely due to growing public anti-war sentiment,are planning a non-binding resolution to reflect opposition to the newtroop deployment.

Cheney said such a gesture would not prevent the president from carrying out his policy.

''Congress, obviously, has to support the effort through the powerof the purse, so they have got a role to play and we certainlyrecognize that,'' Cheney said. ''But also, you cannot run a war bycommittee.'' Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, a MichiganDemocrat, said he opposed withholding defense funding to signalopposition to the president's plan ''I don't support using the power ofthe purse because I think that sends the wrong message to our troops,''Levin said on CNN's ''Late Edition.'' Cheney said while Democrats havecriticized Bush's plan and advocated withdrawal, they have not offeredan alternative strategy to the president's proposal.

He said the president did not conduct policy based on publicopinion polls, which have shown increasing dissatisfaction with USinvolvement in the Iraq war.

''You cannot simply stick your finger up in the wind and say,'Gee, public opinion's against, we better quit,''' Cheney said. Doingthat would just ''validate the al Qaeda view of the world,'' he said.

Cheney said criticism from members of their own Republican Partyhad not made him or the president feel embattled. ''I've seen embattledadministrations. This isn't one of them.'' IRAN 'FISHING' Tensions inthe Middle East were raised after the US military's arrest of fiveIranians in Iraq, accusing them of providing arms and money tomilitants. Iran called them diplomats and demanded their release, andIraqi officials also said they should be freed.

''We've asked for their release,'' Iraq's Foreign MinisterHoshiyar Zebari said on CNN. He said while the Iranians had beenworking from an office that was not formally a consulate, it had beendoing some consular services such as offering travel permits.

Cheney said Iran has created tensions throughout the region bypursuing nuclear weapons, supporting extremists, and providingimprovised explosive devices inside Iraq.

''It's been pretty well known that Iran is fishing in troubledwaters, if you will, inside Iraq, and the president has responded tothat,'' Cheney said.

The United States was not getting ready for a military conflictwith Iran, White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley said.

''The president has said very clearly that the issues we have withIran should be solved diplomatically in terms of the nuclear issue,''Hadley said on NBC's ''Meet the Press.''


Reuters>

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