President Bush promised Congress that there would be no October surprise (re: Iraq).
Well, October is almost over.
Posted on 10/26/2002 12:56:08 PM PDT by Gemflint
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAEWI7XR7D.html
Bush Says He Will Lead Coalition Against Iraq
By Ron Fournier The Associated Press
Published: Oct 26, 2002
CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) - Increasing pressure on skeptical allies, President Bush said Saturday the United States will lead a coalition against Iraq if the United Nations does not pass a strong resolution to disarm Saddam Hussein.
The White House said it would be "not very hard at all" to assemble an alliance without U.N. help, a clear signal that Bush's patience with the international organizations is reaching its limits as France, Russia, Mexico and other allies seek to water down his zero-tolerance approach to Iraq.
"If the U.N. does not pass a resolution which holds him to account and that has consequences, then, as I have said in speech after speech after speech, if the U.N. won't act - if Saddam Hussein won't disarm - we will lead a coalition to disarm him," Bush said.
Later, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the prospects for a tough resolution may be slipping away.
"I don't want to say that we're near a solution because it may evade us," he told reporters. "But I think we have successfully narrowed down the differences to a few key issues. And if we can resolve these few key issues in the days ahead, then I think we might get a resolution that would be strong."
Bush spoke at the side of Mexican President Vicente Fox, who hosted an economic conference of Pacific Rim nations. Mexico does not support the hard-line resolution Bush seeks.
Asked whether there would be consequences for any nation that does not support his views, Bush said, "The only consequence, of course, is with Saddam Hussein."
Fox, speaking through an interpreter, said he stressed with Bush his hopes the United Nations could resolve the impasse. But the Mexican leader gave no indication he would yield to Bush's demand for a resolution with consequences.
"We are listening and talking and we want to search for and do everything possible for a strong resolution, a resolution that will result in the prompt return of inspectors, that Iraq complies with the existing agreements with the United Nations," Fox said.
Bush was asked after the appearance whether he heard what he wanted to hear from Fox on Iraq. He shook his head and said yes.
"We did talk about world peace and Iraq," Bush said in the brief exchange with reporters. Though he speaks some Spanish, the president had the aid of an interpreter.
He noted that Mexico is a member of the U.N. Security Council. "We discussed how to keep the world peaceful, how to hold people to account, how to make sure the United Nations is effective."
Bush is unrelenting in his demand for a resolution that promises consequences, potentially military action, if the Iraqi president does not give up his weapons programs, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
The new resolution Bush wants also would hold Saddam in "material breach" of previous resolutions requiring him to give up those programs.
"We hope the council will be strong and send a signal to Saddam Hussein that this time the world means business," Fleischer said aboard Air Force One during Bush's flight to Mexico.
"No one has ruled out the possibility that the U.N. will fail (to live up) to the challenge of the threat of Saddam Hussein," Fleischer said.
Asked how difficult it would be to confront the Iraqi president without U.N. backing if Bush fails to win U.N. support, Fleischer replied, "Not very hard at all."
Fleischer dismissed reports by the French, Russia and other U.N. nations that a watered down version of a U.N. resolution on Iraq is gaining steam.
France said its new proposal has more support because it eliminates tough U.S. language that many fear could trigger an attack.
But the United States said its draft has equal backing - if not more.
The decision by France and Russia to introduce their own proposals Friday and challenge the new U.S. draft resolution suddenly put three documents into the hands of the 15 Security Council nations, setting the stage for tense negotiations.
The rival documents reflect the division among the five veto-wielding permanent council members, who could not resolve their differences over a new approach to Iraq during six weeks of negotiations.
Russia, Iraq's closest council ally, wants to stick as closely as possible to current inspection rules and eliminate any language that could allow an attack on Baghdad.
France, which sees itself as a potential broker between Washington and Moscow, opposes any language possibly authorizing military action and wants to water down some U.S. inspection proposals.
U.S. deputy ambassador James Cunningham made clear the United States wants a vote on its resolution by the end of next week. Diplomats said the vote will almost certainly take place by Thursday.
The United States responded to the rival texts by formally submitting its resolution to the Security Council on Friday to ensure it remains the basis for discussion. The Russian and French proposals also could be introduced, but the U.S. move means its resolution likely would be voted on first.
For adoption, a resolution must receive nine "yes" votes and no veto by another permanent member - Russia, France, China and Britain.
yep, I agree, get ready folks.
For anyone who is interested, here is some info that you may not know. If you want the actual articles, please e-mail me with an address I can forward it to, because there are MANY articles and some of them will be a long read. It will raise the hair on the back of your neck!
- Iraq has used WMD's against Christians, Muslims and pagans in Southern Sudan, namely VX and Mustard Gas. According to one moderate Muslim, over 4 million Sudanese Christians have been killed, not to mention a sizeable number of moderate Muslims and pagans. Iraq worked in conjunction with China and Sudanese militant Muslims.
- Iraq has used WMD's against its own Kurdish population and against the populace of Iran.
- Iraq has sent/sold WMD's and Iraqi scientists to the North (militant Muslim) Sudanese gov't, Khadafi in Libya, and the militant Muslim gov't of Algeria.
- Iraq, with the help of Cuba, China, Iran, Syria and Libya has spread WMD's across the world to militants and terrorist-sponsoring governments. This includes fissionable nuclear material (meaning ready-made material for a nuclear bomb, no further processing is needed).
President Bush promised Congress that there would be no October surprise (re: Iraq).
Well, October is almost over.
This, IMHO is the basis for the administrations statements referencing the lengthy time frame involved in fighting terrorism. (years) In this situation unearthing the roots instead of clipping the thorns one by one would create world wide caos.
I suppose we will retain a token membership. I would much prefer that we evict the UN from America.
But from now on it is Pax Americana (the peace enforced by America).
Any country that does not like it had better take a good long look at what we accomplished in Afghanistan. What the Soviets couldn't do in years, we did in days.
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