Bush, Blair give Saddam 21 days to disarm or face war

The Times of India ^ | 2/21/03

[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.

[WOSG]

DAMN ... We need to do this next week, not next MONTH.

[RobFromGa]

Why the Times of India? Sounds like disinformation to me, it takes too much heat off Sodom.

[Mulder]

Prescott Bush? How does he fit into this, Good grief, I don't think we even had satellite guidence technoligy back when Prescott Bush was around.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2002/02/19/usat-prescott-bush.htm

Also try a google search on Prescott Bush and China and see what you get....

[MJY1288]

OK, I thought it was in the middle of the month, My guess is then we will probably give it a few days after the deadline and launch this thing, I just hate to see our boys going in during the warmer months.

I am praying that the Iraqi people take matters into their own hands and we see Saddam and his Sons badly beaten naked dead bodies being dragged through the streets of Baghdad by their heels and all of his inner circle hanging from the lamp posts

[P.O.E.]

However this does match Condi Rice's appearance on the Sunday Talk Shows.

If memory serves, she said "weeks not months". The interviewer said something like "one month?". And she seemed to agree.

I'm going by my perception of the interview at the time.

[Mulder]

I fear it's too late though and they are here already, thus the panic about smallpox domestically.

If they release it here, it needs to be made clear that whichever country sponsored them will be totally annihilated.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

RE: #31!

Excellent statement and is the way I see it also.

This Hydra headed monster (Islamic Terorists )has a lot of heads and we are chopping off one of the big ones in IRAQ but there are more!

[MJY1288]

Good Grief Bud, Do you really believe that this USA Today hit piece on the Bush family is proof of Prescott Bush delivering our military secrets to the Chinese?

If So, try a different brand of tinfoil and quit serving as a useful idiot for the left

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

migration of the Iraqi Spotted Desert Owl

They have one too?

Damn things really get around for an endangered species!!!

LOL!!

[UncleSamUSA]

Secretary Rumsfeld reiterated and extended that saying in an interview yesterday.

He said: "Those who are talking don't know. And those who do know aren't talking."

[RobFromGa]

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. SO, NO DEADLINE. Anyone seen a transcript of this exclusive BBC interview? When did it occur? WHy would Powell give an exclusive interview to a British TV channel? 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.

NOW THERE is a DEADLINE? What unnamed Brutush newspaper is reporting this?

This is CRAP!

[Beck_isright]

That's the problem. How do you know who did it unless you find the records and proof? Imagine two Saudi suicical nuts like the 9-11 crowd infected and boarding a 12 hour international flight? Then landing in NYC and riding a train to DC. Then the subway, etc. Although it would be hit or miss, eventually they would spread the disease enough where it could (I emphasize could) spread throughout half the country in less than 30 days (that's half by territory, not population-wise). This hesitation is really pissing me off. We had best do what needs to be done or be prepared to pay the price domestically. We're giving that nut a chance to attack our troops in their assembly areas, infect his own population with God knows what, AND export his garbage to every terrrorist group. I agree with an earlier posting where I saw the phrase "Beware the ides of March".

[Mr. Mojo]

I am praying that the Iraqi people take matters into their own hands and we see Saddam and his Sons badly beaten naked dead bodies being dragged through the streets of Baghdad by their heels and all of his inner circle hanging from the lamp post

I'm with you....Saddam and his sons getting the Mussolini treatment would save us a lot of trouble (and lives). We'd still have to occupy the place for a while, however.

The moon will still be very bright a few days after the March 14th deadline. It'll start to get dark for the greater part of the evening around 4 to 5 days before the April 1st new moon. If Saddam can somehow find a way successfully delay a late March/early April invasion, we're screwed.

[Beck_isright]

I know. The human shields from San Francisco and Oregon smuggled them into Iraq in an effort to give peace a chance. Damned spotted owls.

[Republicanus_Tyrannus]

One of the most precise, correct, and informative summation of this stage of the War Against Terror..
(which I will henceforth refer to with your excellent term, "the September 11th War")

[Mulder]

Do you really believe that this USA Today hit piece on the Bush family is proof of Prescott Bush delivering our military secrets to the Chinese?

I believe Prescott is totally corrupt for having anything to do with the Red Chinese. From the article:

His connections to an American firm, Asset Management, came into question in 1989, when the company was the only U.S. firm able to skirt U.S. sanctions and import communications satellites into China. When Asset Management went bankrupt later that year, Bush's deal to arrange a buyout through West Tsusho, a Japanese investment firm, raised eyebrows. Newspapers reported that Japanese police were investigating West Tsusho's alleged ties to organized crime.

If you don't like USA Today as a source, try doing a google search and you'll get hundreds of other sources.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

Is any American press reporting this? I think our press is just saying 'a definite timeline' not specific 21 days.I wonder.

[Mulder]

If smallpox is such a threat, why are the borders still open? Quite the contrary, there are even more illegals coming across than ever before.

It seems to me that if you knew the enemy had smallpox, sealing the border would be the FIRST thing that was done.

[RobFromGa]

However this does match Condi Rice's appearance on the Sunday Talk Shows. If memory serves, she said "weeks not months". The interviewer said something like "one month?". And she seemed to agree.

I saw the interview, she died repeat the "weeks not months" phrase and the interviewer did try to pin her down and she said "weeks not months" again. She is not stupid.

I am still betting on First week of March unless something dramatic happens. We do still need tactical surprise so disinformation is to be expected.

As I said above, this article is CRAP. Bush/Blair do not operate this way.

Show me the British newspaper that is reporting the 21 day deadline.

[Beck_isright]

If we had a logical nation, you are correct. But we are so damn naive, it's scarey. There are still a large group of people in this country who think the gubment will protect us no matter what. Tom Ridge is trying his best to destroy this myth, but to no avail. We are not acting like a nation at war. I fear until 100,000 Americans perish from the next series of attacks that nothing will be done.