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Britain Gen. Warns Against Strikes




Britain Gen. Warns Against Strikes

 LONDON (AP) -- Britain's Gulf War commander said today that air
 strikes alone would not be entirely effective against Iraq.

 Using ``the rather blunt weapon of a single strike military force ...
 has never worked in history,'' retired Gen. Sir Peter de la Billiere told
 BBC Radio 4.

 ``You usually have to have balanced forces if you want to achieve a
 military objective. These will not be balanced forces and are likely to
 have side effects which will be very unwelcome,'' he said.

 De la Billiere said he believed the West probably had an idea where
 Iraqi weapons were being stored, but air strikes would not be fully
 effective -- and a ground attack was out of the question.

 The West does not have the necessary forces in the region and it
 would take months to put troops in place, he said.

 De la Billiere spoke as U.S. and British leaders warned that time was
 running out for a diplomatic resolution to the standoff over U.N.
 weapons inspections.


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