U.S. would give Saddam Hussein seven days to comply, open his palaces to inspection

Associated Press | September 27, 2002 | BARRY SCHWEID and DAFNA LINZER

[HAL9000]

WASHINGTON, Sep 27, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- The United States and Britain are proposing that the United Nations set a seven-day deadline for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to agree to disarm and then open his palaces to weapons inspectors, a Bush administration official and U.N. diplomats said Friday.

President George W. Bush backed the U.N. effort, saying, "I'm willing to give peace a chance."

The tough demands are coupled with a warning that "all necessary means" would be used against Iraq in the event of defiance, the officials told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Describing the proposed U.N. resolution as tough and detailed, the U.S. official said Iraq would be accused of being in "material breach" of U.N. Security Council resolutions and told it must agree to "full, final and complete destruction" of its weapons of mass destruction.

If Saddam meets the first deadline and agrees to disarm, he would then have to quickly provide the council with a detailed account of materials in Iraq's possession which could be used to manufacture banned weapons, U.N. diplomats said.

The resolution was being circulated to attract the support of France, Russia and China - the other three permanent council members with veto power.

All three prefer giving Iraq another chance to have sites inspected before threats of force are leveled. Iraq agreed last week to allow inspectors to return after nearly four years.

Bush called French President Jacques Chirac to try to win his backing for the U.S.-British proposal. But Chirac resisted, telling Bush he opposed threatening Iraq with military force upfront.

Chirac, instead, urged Bush to back a French approach for two separate resolutions, the first calling for weapons inspections and the second a threat of military action if Iraq balked.

As Secretary of State Colin Powell and others worked diplomats in an effort to gain approval for U.S.-British approach, the Bush administration was struggling to persuade Congress to authorize the use of force against Iraq.

Bush said the United Nations should have a chance to force Saddam to give up his weapons of mass destruction before the United States acts on its own against Iraq.

"I'm willing to give peace a chance to work. I want the United Nations to work," Bush said at a Republican fund-raising event in Denver.

But Bush said action must come quickly.

"Now is the time," he said. "For the sake of your children's future we must make sure this madman never has the capacity to hurt us with a nuclear weapon, or to use the stockpiles of anthrax that we know he has, or VX, the biological weapons which he possesses."

VX is nerve gas.

At a campaign-style rally later in Flagstaff, Arizona, Bush tried to counter accusations of war mongering and partisanship in the debate over Iraq.

"To work for peace - that's my goal," Bush declared. "There are a lot of good people on both sides of the political aisle who understand the task ahead."

"Our last choice is to commit our troops to harm's way. But if we have to, to defend our freedoms, the United States will lead a coalition and do so," Bush told a boisterous crowd gathered in the cold rain to hear him speak.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, meanwhile, joined other senior Democrats in voicing reservations about putting the nation on a path toward war before a new, tougher round of U.N. inspections is launched.

Kennedy said unconditional U.N. inspections must be given time to work, and that a largely unilateral American war "could worsen, not lessen, the threat of terrorism" by swelling the ranks of al-Qaida sympathizers in the Muslim world.

"War should be a last resort, not a first response," he said in a speech to the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Kennedy spoke as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld began a series of addresses across the country to justify military force as an option to disarm Iraq and drive Saddam from power. The United States will have "a substantial coalition of countries" by its side if it decides to use military force to oust Saddam, Rumsfeld said in Atlanta.

The resolution jointly proposed by the United States and Britain would give international inspectors the right to designate "no-fly" and "no-drive" zones as off-limits to Iraq.

Currently, there are "no-fly" zones in the north and south of the country patrolled by U.S. and British warplanes.

The resolution would go further in denying Saddam control over parts of his country.

The resolution would nullify assurances U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan gave Saddam in 1998 that would restrict inspections of presidential sites, including Saddam's palaces.

It also would detail Iraq's violations and specify what Baghdad must do to correct them, especially "full, final and complete destruction" of weapons of mass destruction.

Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman, sent to Paris to lobby for French approval, gave officials there a copy of the draft Friday and was due to go on to Moscow.

Congress hopes to take up a resolution next week giving the president the authority to use whatever means necessary, including military force, to eradicate the Iraqi threat. Negotiations continue on the wording, with Democrats saying they will not give the president open-ended authority.

Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott said Friday that he and other top leaders - Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Democratic House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle - would talk by Monday afternoon. "We need to get an agreement on the language early next week," Lott said.

Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved

[Poohbah]

Hoo boy. Bush just started the clock...and right after the deadline, there's a new moon. Just a coincidence, nothing to see here, move along.

[PogySailor]

Tic tic tic.....

[Poohbah]

Domino's deliver's the bunker-busting pizza in seven days or it's four dollars off!

[AngrySpud]

Give him eight days ... he needs a fair chance to take all the toon's portraits off the palace walls.

[PhiKapMom]

I was just going to ask about the moon! You answered my question before I could ask!

[cactusSharp]

who ya think is more afraid,Saddam or a hired
look-a-like ?

[RJayneJ]

Quote of the Day by McLynnan

[Right_in_Virginia]

"The resolution would nullify assurances U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan gave Saddam in 1998 that would restrict inspections of presidential sites, including Saddam's palaces."

Anything that nullifies Kofi Annan is a quantum leap in the right direction.

[Travis McGee]

I don't know and wouldn't tell, but before anything overt happens, specops troops will be crawling all over Iraq with laser designators linked to GPS etc.

Hats off to those men!

[palmer]

No mention of dropping economic sanctions if he complies. No incentives, I doubt this proposal is serious. Why does North Korea get incentives to comply when their record (killing 100's of thousands of their own with famine) is much worse?

[VaBthang4]

Yep...I keep getting this feeling that GW wants the opening kickoff before the election.

Maybe it is me.

[VaBthang4]

Wha.

[John Lenin]

I hope you are right. Daschle will crap his pants on the Senate floor and than run and hide under a couch in the lobby, and the ABC cameras will find him shaking like a leaf. :-)

[hchutch]

I don't think the UN will go for it.

But it looks like my prediction of October 6 at 2330 Baghdad time is dead on target.

[wretchard]

At the moment, the US maintains a substantial presence in Northern and Southern Iraq, and probably in parts of its western desert. Notionally, the US start line is the 34th parallel to the north, and the 32nd parallel to the south and areas west of the Euphrates.

The UN resolutions that President Bush is seeking, contains provisions for "no-drive zones", which together with the recently announced program to train Iraqui oppositionists, amounts to a request to establish a separate Iraqui state under American control. Saddam's kingdom is, or will be a rough square about 160 miles on each side. However, even with this shrunken realm, it is obvious that no ground force can reach Baghdad under 48 hours due to the numerous water obstacles posed by the riverine system.

However, since Saddam's regime should ideally be collapsed within 24 hours of the commencement of general hostilities, the main effort will have to carried by airmobile assault. Saddam knows this, and has pulled his forces into a tight perimeter around the capital, excepting Tikrit, which is 80 miles north. That too, is defended, probably to split the attack. The underlying idea of the Saddamese defense will resemble a cross between Okinawa and Grozny. He will probably position his AA assets to cover any likely LZs and concentrate his artillery to drop concentrations on presurveyed sites. The city will be defended in depth, with Grozy-like defense team. Baghdadis, like the Okinawans, will be used as cannon-fodder for political effect. For the whole object of Saddam's campaign will be to win his week, his seven days.

In those seven days, he will hope to inflict mass civilian casualties on US cities while US forces struggle to reach him. He may be calculating that the proximity of US combat troops will preclude the use of retaliatory measures for his use of anthrax or other pathogens. He is counting on the US to supply him with human shields in the shape of its own combat forces. Like the Japanese commander on Okinawa, he has no hope of winning the battle, but plans to make the proceedings so expensive that the US will opt for a negotiated settlement, rather than an outright victory. That will be triumph enough for him.

Ranged against this 21st century Stalingrad is a US military with an uncertain number of secret weapons, the existence of which has been hinted at. The one most likely to exist an EMP-pulse weapon, possibly in the form of a directed energy beam, which may fry every piece of electronic equipment in Saddam's fortress. His cell phones, his landlines, his radios and every piece of electronic equipment. It could put paid to all communications, including civilian radios. It could stop all automotive traffic. It would neutralize his artillery, which relies upon fire direction to work. It is possible that the US has other directed energy weapons which are counter-AA and anti-personnel in nature. Perhaps the US even has a method of minimize the effect of his biological weapons.

Whatever the truth, the US actually stands to gain from a brief period of inspections. They would "shake the tree" and allow intelligence assets to perform signal analysis and follow movements as Saddam attempts his shell game. This conflict is being fought on a level never before seen in the history of warfare. It pits a dictator in an inherently strong position, with a fundamentally powerful deterrent against the unknown wizardry of the United States. We'll see what happens.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

And all of his underground bunkers. Where oh where has OBL gone where oh where could he be?