ARAB-US RELATIONS - March 10 - Rice Warns Iraq, Iran & N. Korea Of Nuclear Hits.

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice says on NBC the only way to deter Iraq, Iran and North Korea from using weapons of mass destruction "is to be clear that it would be met with a devastating response". (Analysts say this is a significant switch in US nuclear planning, with Washington being focused more on hostile nations that have or could develop weapons of mass destruction than on traditional nuclear powers such as Russia and China). On his arrival in London on the first-leg of a tour of Europe and the Middle East to discuss the war on terrorism and the US posture on Iraq, US Vice President Dick Cheney unveils a Pentagon report, called the Nuclear Posture review, presented to Congress in January, which also named Libya and Syria as countries at which US nuclear deterrence should be aimed. (The report raised the possibility of a pre-emptive nuclear strike against such states and called for the development of nuclear missiles that could penetrate underground bunkers thought to harbour dangerous weapons programmes. According to the New York Times, which obtained a copy of the report, Washington might use a nuclear strike to destroy stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons or to respond to conventional attacks such as an Iraqi invasion of Israel or a North Korean attack on South Korea. The strategy switch came as Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan said Baghdad would not allow the return of UN weapons inspectors. But at a meeting with the UN last week further talks on the issue were scheduled for April. US officials stress the nuclear report represents a "posture" rather than a "policy"). State Secretary Powell said on CBS News the US had no plans to develop new nuclear weapons. He said other countries should not be alarmed by what he called "sound conceptual planning... We should not get all carried away with some sense that the US is planning to use nuclear weapons in some contingency that is coming up in the near future. It is not the case". (But what is clear, analysts say, is that Washington is gradually shifting all elements of its military planning, including its nuclear arsenal, to focus on new threats).