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| Middle East |
| Bush Urges: 'Deal Harshly' with Hamas |
| 2003-06-15 |
| KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine (Reuters) - President Bush on Sunday said the world must "deal harshly" with the Palestinian militant group Hamas and a leading Republican senator said U.S. troops may have to go after them. "The free world and those who love freedom and peace must deal harshly with Hamas and the killers," Bush told reporters when asked whether Israel was justified in recent attacks against the group. The remarks were his most extensive on the situation in the Middle East since a wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence last week threw his peace "road map" into turmoil, and they intensified earlier calls for action against Hamas. Bush said the United States was helping the Palestinian Authority reconstitute a security force to take on Hamas, but declined to say if Washington would provide arms or money. U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, the Republican chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said, "clearly, if force is required ultimately to root out terrorism, it is possible there would be American participation." Asked if that meant such troops would go after Hamas or other groups, he said, "That may be the conclusion... It may not be just Hamas but clearly Hamas is right in the gunsights." |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |