What an odd conclusion for you to draw...
Posted on 02/21/2003 7:56:12 PM PST by areafiftyone
LONDON: In a significant trans-Atlantic pincer movement to make the case for war, US secretary of state Colin Powell has given British television viewers advance notice of next week’s second United Nations resolution, while America’s chief ally, Tony Blair, canvasses support on the European mainland.
In a rare interview to the BBC, billed by the organisation as "exclusive", Powell revealed that the second UN resolution would contain no deadline and would not authorise or specify military action.
Meanwhile, in an apparent quickening of the pace to war, President Bush and Blair are reported by at least one British paper to have decided on a 21-day deadline.
The paper said the two men, who had a 30-minute telephone conversation on Thursday, had agreed to give Saddam Hussein until March 14 to disarm or face war.
The two men were reported to have put in place the "endgame" in the long stand-off with Baghdad.
In an orchestrated initiative, late on Friday, British foreign secretary Jack Straw made a hard-edged "moral case for war", ahead of Blair’s Saturday meeting with Pope John Paul II in the Vatican.
The Pope has spoken out against war and a reluctant Vatican is understood to have granted Blair an audience, only to appear even-handed.
Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz was given an unprecedented half-hour meeting with the Holy Father last week.
The rising rhetoric of a "moral war" comes as the heads of both the Catholic Church and of 70 million Anglican Christians around the world, have firmly rejected the morality of bombing Baghdad into submission.
On Thursday night, Powell, who spoke with quiet intensity, insisted a second UN resolution did not need to authorise the use of force. That hurdle had already been crossed, Powell indicated.
The new resolution, he said, would "summarise the situation... as it exists - show that Iraq is not in compliance …will point out that lack of co-operation".
Military force had already been authorised by the six-page UN Security Council resolution 1441 unanimously passed last November, Powell said.
He said the resolution would probably not contain a specific deadline for Iraqi compliance, but added the mantra: "Clearly time is running out…"
In the British government’s most outspoken attack on last weekend’s unprecedented anti-war protests in Britain and around the world, Jack Straw criticised the demonstrators’ "relativist nonsense" about human rights abuse.
Saddam’s was a brutal regime, he said and it was not enough to say Iraq should not be invaded because human rights abuse occurred in other countries as well.
The rest of the world might not like it, but 'them liking it' really isn't a requirement.
With each passing day that this drags out, it's becoming apparent to me that this whole episode has more to do with legitimizing the UN and the New World Order than anything else.
What in the world are they thinking? First of all - why would they give such a precise time for war to begin - doesn't sound like good strategy.
Second of all - Is 12 years and umpteen UN resolutions not enough warning or chances? We discuss the irrelivance of the UN when they keep putting this off, but now we are falling into the same trap. I find it hard to believe that Saddam is such a danger if we can continue to put off any real action.
What an odd conclusion for you to draw...
Quickening? Hardly. Our window of opportunity is closing fast. Let's get this damn show on the road already!
Puh-leeze. This is about appeasing the UN. Nothing more and nothing less. Please don't spin it as anything else.
MM
Oh, just looked. COOL. We can take care of this over the weekend, and enjoy an event free Guinness and Lamb Stew..
These idiots are no more moral than Hugh Hefner....while they fiddle faddle....the Iraqi public dies.....oh, I am beginning to wonder about ANY church these days.
This article has nothing of substance to offer.
Therefore I advise we attack Monday March 3 the next new moon:
1) Jacques Chirac
2) Hollywood
3) Kofi Annan
4) Gerhard Schroeder
5) Saddam Hussein's stocks of Viagra
6) Iowa
Then we get series.
As President Bush once said, "Those who know aren't telling."
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