Wolfowitz : indicates Iraq could be a future target

Oct 5, 2001

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, at the center of
debate over U.S. anti-terror strategy, said on Friday there is ``broad agreement'' among
President Bush (news - web sites)'s aides to focus first on the Taliban and Osama bin Laden
(news - web sites) but indicated Iraq could be a future target. 

``I think there is great broad agreement among his (Bush's) advisers on the direction that he
set,'' Wolfowitz told a program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced
International Studies where he used to be dean. 

Wolfowitz has been a key proponent of making Iraq an early target in the anti-terror
campaign launched after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon
(news - web sites). 

But the decision appears to have gone against him as the United States focuses first on
rooting out bin Laden's Afghanistan (news - web sites)-based al Qaeda network of Islamic
militants and the Taliban leaders who control most of the country. Asked about the extent to
which it might be possible to also target Iraq, Wolfowitz stressed that al Qaeda operates in
60 countries and Bush has made clear that any nation continuing to support terrorism will be
regarded as a ``hostile regime.'' 
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