A rchive Date
[ 11-02-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ U.S ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2003/01/22/23151-ap.html
U.S. dismisses Iraqi overtures
Steps up rhetoric against Saddam
Mon, February 10, 2003
WASHINGTON (AP) - President George W. Bush challenged France and two other allies Monday to reverse course and allow NATO to defend Turkey against Iraq. He also accused Iraq's Saddam Hussein of "trying to stall for time" by offering last-minute concessions.
"I think it affects the alliance in a negative way when you are not able to make a statement of mutual defence," Bush said after France, Germany and Belgium vetoed a U.S.-backed measure to authorize NATO to make plans to protect Turkey.
The faltering of unity within the alliance coincided with Bush's struggle to muster support from the UN Security Council for force to disarm Iraq. There, too, France's opposition stands in the president's path.
Bush said France is a longtime friend of the United States, but that its decision is short-sighted. "I hope they'll reconsider," he said.
"Saddam Hussein has to disarm. If he doesn't, we will disarm him," Bush said after a meeting with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a staunch U.S. ally against Iraq.
The leaders met at the end of the day that brought several setbacks to Bush's diplomatic efforts. France, Germany and Russia sought more time for weapons inspectors, while French President Jacques Chirac said there is no justification for war at this time. France led efforts to prevent NATO from planning for Turkey's defence.
"Upset is not the proper word," Bush said when reporters asked for his views on France's diplomacy. "I am disappointed that France would block NATO from helping a country like Turkey to prepare," he said.
The remarks were part of an aggressive White House campaign to try to sway world and public opinion in advance of Friday's report by UN weapons inspectors. Bush intends to use the report to force a decision from the UN Security Council: back the U.S. push to disarm Saddam or stand aside as he leads a coalition to do so.
Earlier Monday in a speech to a convention of religious broadcasters in Nashville, Bush denounced Saddam as the true enemy of Iraq's people. He said the Iraqi leader regards them as "human shields, entirely expendable when their suffering serves his purpose."
While Bush was in Tennessee, Howard met with Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, both of whom signalled Bush's irritation with the NATO decision. Rumsfeld said the planning would go ahead outside NATO, if necessary.
Powell said the allies had a legal obligation to protect Turkey and to make sure it "is not put at any risk."
In Ottawa, meanwhile, Prime Minister Jean Chretien said Canada supports Turkey's bid for NATO's help in planning a defence against a potential Iraqi missile attack. But he said it is still too early to say whether Ottawa would send military aid.
Bush dismissed efforts by Saddam to avert war by allowing U-2 surveillance planes to fly above Iraq and to permit interviews of scientists.
"This is a man who is trying to stall for time," he said. "The reason we need to fly U-2 flights is they're not disarming."
Without mentioning France or other like-minded countries by name, Bush noted that some have called for more UN inspectors in Iraq. He dismissed that assertion, saying "one or two" inspectors would be enough if Saddam was not hiding his weapons.
Iraq has repeatedly denied the assertion that it has weapons of mass destruction.
Much as his father, former president George Bush, did before the first war against Iraq in 1991, Bush portrayed Saddam as evil and a danger to his own people and the world.
Saddam, he said, is positioning his military forces within civilian populations to shield the military and then blame anti-Iraq coalition forces for civilian casualties in the event of war.
"Saddam Hussein has broken every promise to disarm. He has shown complete contempt for the international community," Bush told the broadcasters.
Later, with Howard, Bush said Australia is a member of his "coalition of the willing," a term he usually uses to describe countries willing to disarm Iraq even without UN approval. Bush said it is up to Howard to say how far Australia is willing to go.
The prime minister did not specifically commit troops to the Bush coalition, but said Saddam is a rogue leader who poses a grave threat.
Meanwhile, Bush's attempt to rally the UN Security Council to use force to disarm Iraq sustained setbacks. Already wavering members of the council were confronted Monday with Iraq's approval of the use of U.S.-made U-2 surveillance planes by weapons inspectors and a pledge to pass legislation next week to outlaw the use of weapons of mass destruction.
"The inspectors are now free to use the American U-2s as well as French and Russian planes," Ambassador Mohamed al-Douri said.
Iraq had blocked the use of the planes, which inspectors said they needed in their search for banned weapons.
The U.S. response was frigid.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "The bottom line is one of disarmament and the president's interest is in disarmament. This does nothing to change that bottom line."
Al-Douri delivered the letter to the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, run at UN headquarters by Hans Blix, the chief weapons inspector.
It could reinforce the inclination of a majority of council members to extend inspections rather than go to war to force Iraq to disarm.
Powell brushed aside Germany's opposition to war, saying after a meeting with President Lucio Gutierrez of Ecuador that Germany could not veto a resolution because it is not a permanent member of the council.
After meeting with Powell and Rumsfeld, Howard said Australia had already deployed forces to help in a war with Iraq.
"Australia does not believe all of the heavy lifting should be done by the United States and the United Kingdom alone," he said.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher described the Iraqi moves as tactical retreats and said Baghdad still has not indicated whether it would comply quickly and fully with UN disarmament demands.
"I haven't seen anything worth getting excited about," Boucher said. In fact, "one has to question whether those ideas would have any relevance."
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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