Posted on 02/08/2003 10:31:09 PM PST by TLBSHOW
Rice Says Terror Attacks Leave No Choice on Iraq Feb. 8
— SYDNEY (Reuters) - Past terror attacks mean Washington must not waver in its determination to force Iraq to disarm, U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday as speculation grew about an imminent strike against Baghdad.
Rice said President Bush's tough stand against Iraq follows America's tradition of helping those in need.
"The president is leading a global war on terror not just because America was attacked but because free men and women everywhere are under attack," Rice told Nine Network television in an interview from the United States.
Rice's comments come as the U.S. faces increasing pressure not to take unilateral action to disarm Iraq.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Saturday that collective action under a U.N. umbrella would have greater legitimacy and better odds of success while in Germany, the Der Spiegel magazine said Germany and France were working on a plan to avert war in Iraq.
In a separate interview from the west Australian city of Perth, former chief U.N. weapons inspector Richard Butler told Channel Seven television he expected Washington to strike Iraq with or without the backing of the United Nations.
"I suspect the United States will go ahead with a unilateral attack. I suspect that at the end of February or first week of March is when we will see military action begin," Butler said.
"If it takes place, the war will begin with aerial bombardment of Iraq," he said.
Bush has pushed for U.N. backing of his demand that Iraq abandon its alleged chemical, biological and nuclear programs or be disarmed by force. Iraq denies having any such weapons.
Rice said the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States and the bombing of the tourist island of Bali last year showed terror attacks can occur without apparent reason.
"The terrorists are striking because they want to bring down civilization as we know it," she said.
"We would be misguided in believing terrorists will leave us alone if we leave them alone."
Rice bristled at Australian opposition party criticism of Bush as "flaky" and "incompetent."
"I will not dignify that comment," she said briskly.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who left on Saturday on a week-long trip during which he plans meet Bush as well as U.N., British and Indonesian leaders, has come under fire at home for his support of Washington's stance on Iraq.
Thanks, Condi. Stay strong, we're backing you ALL!
Butler is an idiot. Can't he count?
You know, I'm beginning to think that the popular defintion of the term 'unilateral' has morphed into meaning 'action without explicit permission from the U.N., regardless of how many countries support said action outside the context of the U.N.'. It grates on the nerves the same way 'disenfranchised' did during the 2000 election aftermath, and for the same basic reason (being used incorrectly to support a particular point of view).
The other way I see the term being used is when a person speaking for his or her country wants to indicate that the action is being undertaken 'without MY country's approval'. And these people accuse US of being self-centered and arrogant!
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