The United States will not listen to calls for a ceasefire in its war with Iraq, Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Arabic-language Al-Jazeera television network on Wednesday.
”It would merely delay the inevitable and give Saddam Hussein some chance to believe that he could avoid the serious consequences that he has caused to befall his regime,” Powell said.
He explained: ”We are interested in concluding this conflict, not having a pause right now or stopping right now, but concluding this as quickly as possible so we can get on with the rebuilding of Iraq and putting in place a better system of governance.”
Powell was at pains to underline that he remained in close contact with US allies in the Arab world.
”I have conveyed to them what our strategy is: to conduct this war in as effective a way as we can, doing everything we can to minimise casualties, minimise damage to property,” he added.
But just hours earlier, he had criticised Al-Jazeera’s reporting of the war, which he said showed the US in a negative light and exaggerated Iraq’s small military achievements.
In an interview with National Public Radio, Powell accused the Qatar-based satellite broadcaster of a lack of objectivity.
”Al-Jazeera has an editorial line and a way of presenting news that appeals to the Arab public,” he said. ”They watch it and they magnify the minor successes of the regime.
”And they tend to portray our efforts in a negative light,” Powell said, adding that he hoped Al-Jazeera would report on US efforts to improve the lives of the Iraqi people as the conflict continued and after it is over.
”We will see what Al-Jazeera is reporting after we have defeated this regime and the United States … working with others, working with the UN start to bring in humanitarian supplies, medical supplies, a reconstruction effort and put in place a better life for the people of Iraq,” he said.
”I hope Al-Jazeera is going to be around to watch that and report that to the Arab public and I think at that point, the Arab public will realise that we came in peace, we came as liberators, not conquerors,” he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Al-Jazeera, which was the first broadcaster to show videotapes of dead and captured US troops in Iraq, said its viewership had jumped 10 percent since the war began last week.
The POW footage, which had been taken from and was later shown on Iraqi state television, provoked fury from US and British officials who called it a violation of the Geneva Conventions.
In addition to the POW pictures, the station has provided groundbreaking coverage of the war and is the only channel broadcasting from the southern city of Basra, scene of a furious battle between Iraqi and besieging US-led coalition forces.
The channel first gained major Western attention by broadcasting statements from Osama bin Laden after his al-Qaeda organisation’s September 11 attacks in the United States.
The station showed on Wednesday what it said was footage of the bodies of two British soldiers killed near the southern port of Basra and two further British troops captured by Iraqi fighters.
The station showed two apparently dead bodies in blood-stained military uniforms lying on a road and in separate footage two live black men not wearing uniform.
The prisoners were surrounded by men dressed in civilian clothes making the V for victory sign.
The footage also showed what the station said was a downed pilotless reconnaissance plane, or drone, and destroyed military vehicles.
Al-Jazeera said the footage was of ”the effects of the violent battle that took place over the past two days between Iraqi and British forces in the Zubayr region near Basra city in southern Iraq.”
At the front, explosions thought to have been caused by US airstrikes devastated a market in Baghdad this morning. Iraqi authorities said at least 14 civilians were killed and another 30 injured.
Washington Post.com noted this evening that if the explosions were the result of misdirected bombs or cruise missiles, this would be the first major incident in nearly a week of war in which civilians died as a result of a US airstrike error.
Up to now, said the website, US officials at every level have been proudly emphasising the care with which airstrike targets are selected and the precision with which they are struck.
The website said that at the daily military briefing for reporters at the US command center in Doha, Qatar, Army Gen. Vincent Brooks said he could not confirm that US strikes had struck the market. ”We don’t know that those are ours. We can’t say that we had anything to do with that,” he said. – Sapa-AP, M&G Reporter