Posted on 09/08/2002 8:22:00 AM PDT by RCW2001
| Sunday, 08-Sep-2002 9:00AM | Story from AFP / Kamal Taha Copyright 2002 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet) |
BAGHDAD, Sept 8 (AFP) - Iraq has said it is not frightened by threats of military action, which US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair expect to win broad international support for once they have presented evidence Saddam Hussein is developing weapons of mass destruction.
"US threats do not scare the Iraqi people, they consolidate their cohesion and determination to defend" their country, Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said during a meeting late Saturday with Kurdish officials loyal to Saddam's regime.
"The Iraqi people know well the evil intentions of the United States against their country and they are totally ready to confront any US-Zionist attack.
"The US terrorist designs against Iraq have been laid bare, which has largely contributed to the positions taken against the US administration's policy, notably in Europe and elsewhere," Ramadan said, adding that Iraq was ready to resume dialogue with the United Nations.
Saddam also chaired a meeting of his senior military officials in which he hailed their "hard work ... in raising Iraq's position and serving the Arab world," and called on them to work together "for the defence of Iraq."
Their comments came before a meeting on Iraq Saturday between Bush and Blair.
The two leaders expect to win broad international support for any action taken against Saddam and his alleged weapons of mass destruction, once they have presented evidence, Blair insisted after the talks.
"The Iraqi regime has chemical, biological and nuclear potential. It's important for us that we deal with it as swiftly as we possibly can now," Blair said, charging Saddam with taking advantage of the absence of UN weapons inspectors since 1998 by accumulating weapons of mass destruction.
"If weapons monitoring doesn't take place, we are left with this threat simply growing.
"The threat is a real threat, not just to the region, but, because these conflicts in a region such as the Gulf will not stay confined within that region, they are a threat to the whole of the international community, not just to America and Britain."
He expressed confidence that a dossier shortly to be released by the United States and Britain "will show to people that ... there is an issue to be dealt with" regarding Iraq's acquisition of weapons of mass destruction.
Blair added that a speech Bush is due to make to the United Nations Thursday, in which he is expected to highlight evidence of dangers posed by Iraq, "will be a successful statement ... because we believe this is a problem for the whole of the international community."
The British leader has broken ranks with many of his European colleagues, and notably with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac, in supporting a US military strike against Iraq.
Almost at the same time Blair and Bush were meeting in the United States, Schroeder and Chirac emerged from a two-hour meeting in the German city of Hanover to express strong misgivings about any "unilateral" US action on Iraq.
Blair's apparent confidence about international support -- also expressed earlier by Bush ahead of his meeting with the British prime minister -- appeared to jar with the reality of the reception given to allied policy by fellow UN Security Council members Russia and China.
In Washington meanwhile, unnamed US officials told AFP that Iraq had tried since the middle of last year to acquire from abroad thousands of pieces of equipment that could be used only to produce enriched uranium, which is needed to manufacture nuclear weapons.
The officials gave no details, only saying that Baghdad was targeting aluminium tubes that are used exclusively in centrifuges that produce enriched uranium, a key component of any nuclear warhead.
In Baghdad, former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter called for an "honest broker mechanism" that would allow both an immediate resumption of arms inspections and ensure no deviation from Security Council resolutions.
The mechanism forsees the inspectors' "unconditional return and yet provides assurances to Iraq that unfettered access would only be applied to disarmament issues and not be used to infringe upon Iraq's sovereignty, dignity and national security," Ritter told Iraq's parliament in an address.
The mechanism would ensure that "for Iraq, the sins of the past would not be repeated," Ritter said in reference to the cloud of spying allegations that surrounded UNSCOM, the old verification group which was withdrawn from Iraq in December 1998 on the eve of a US-British bombing campaign.
But Ritter added: "The only path towards peace Iraq should embrace is the one that begins by Iraq agreeing to the immediate and unconditional return of UN weapons inspections operating in full keeping with the mandate as set forth by existing UN Security Council resolutions.
"Nothing else will be acceptable. Iraq cannot attempt to link the return of the weapons inspectors with any other issues regardless of justification. Unconditional return, unfettered access, this is the only acceptable action."
Done! Also those idiot 'peace activists' from the US and Europe, going to protect Saddam. Perhaps we can be lucky enough to include Scott Ritter.
(Saddam has probably peed in every pair of pants he owns by now, and is trying out burkas).
The problem with Iraq, the towelheads and the rest of the world is that they have not seen the full anger of the United States.
3 Mirved Missiles and all the decent parts of that country would be a firestorm. God's got his wrath of fire and brimstone but the US can pull off a pretty convincing imitation.
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