“Don’t Risk!”

The Prime Minister Gerhardt Schroder strictly warned the Vice President Dick Chenny’s assertion of containment offensive against Iraq at an interview with RTL on the 27th, “It is very wrong.” He criticized the fact that to change the attacking target from accepting the existing UN arms inspection to expulsion of the Sadam Hussein Administration is “an act to invite danger.”

The AFP reported that his speaking meant that the German government did not have any intention to participate on attacking Iraq without the permission from the UN.

The French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said to 2,000 high ranking foreign affair officials, “America must not attack Iraq without a permission from the UN Security Council,” and “we cannot solve any problem by relying upon forces only.”

On the other hand, the Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak said, “There is no Arabic country that want for America to attack Iraq,” and warned, “if America attacks Iraq the stability of the whole Middle East will be broken and the anger of the Arabic people will be exploded.”

The Saudi Arabian Crown Princess Abdullah Bin Abdul insisted through the joint statement after a meeting with the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a diplomatic solution.

The Foreign Minister of Qatar Hamed Bin Jasim Bin Jaber Al-Thani said the Qatar government would not provide the three military bases that America uses any more if America attacked Iraq.

The King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa and the Vice President Taha Yassine Ramadan visited Syria on the 27th and discussed about attacking Iraq.

The Arabic Union, which is a representing organization of 22 Arabic countries, decided the threat of the US to attack Iraq as the topic of the Arabic Foreign Ministers’ Conference on the 4th and 5th of next month in Cairo.

Sung-Kyu Kim kimsk@donga.com