Posted on 02/23/2003 1:12:48 PM PST by MeekOneGOP
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U.S. Says It's Deadline Time for Iraq to Disarm
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| Feb. 23 — By Hassan Hafidh BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United States warned on Sunday it was deadline time for Iraq to disarm or face war as Baghdad said it was seriously considering U.N. demands to begin destroying its al-Samoud 2 missiles by March 1. "We are reaching that point where serious consequences must flow," said Secretary of State Colin Powell, using Washington's language for war as the missiles became a major test of Iraqi compliance with the United Nations. Powell, a driving force behind a new U.S. and British resolution on Iraq to be presented to the U.N. Security Council as early as Monday, said it was clear Baghdad had breached U.N. demands to come clean over any weapons of mass destruction. France, a veto-wielding member of the council, signaled the Americans and British faced a tough task in winning over the 15-nation panel. Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said France remained opposed to a new resolution for now because it believed U.N. weapons inspectors still needed time to do their work in Iraq. "The inspectors confirm there is progress. That's why, in this context, we are opposed to a new resolution as the president said," he told Le Figaro newspaper. In its first comment since chief U.N. arms inspector Hans Blix set the March 1 deadline Friday, Iraq said it hoped to settle the missiles issue through "cooperation and agreement." General Husam Mohammad Amin, head of Iraq's weapons monitoring commission, refused to answer direct questions on whether Baghdad would destroy the missiles. "We are studying (Blix's letter) in depth and in a serious and comprehensive way," Amin told reporters in Baghdad. Iraq test-fired a rocket engine at the Falluja site, some 40 miles west of Baghdad, in an attempt to show U.N. inspectors the al-Samoud 2 missile could not violate a 1991 range limit set by the United Nations. POWELL CALLS FOR VITAL DECISIONS Powell dropped heavy hints about Washington's timetable for war as he went on a diplomatic swing through Japan and China to drum up support, saying the United Nations should take vital decisions soon after an inspectors' report expected on March 7. Powell told reporters in Tokyo he expected the U.N. Security Council to make a judgment on the new resolution being presented by the United States and Britain soon after the report. "Time is drawing to a close when ... the Security Council must show its relevance by insisting that Iraq disarm or that Iraq be disarmed by a coalition of forces that will ... do it," he said. The U.S. military is anxious to act before April when temperatures in Iraq begin to soar and could make fighting tough for soldiers if they have to wear stifling protective suits and masks against the threat of chemical or biological weapons. In Baghdad, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein remained defiant of President Bush's war threats "The Iraqis are angered by the behavior of their enemy that has not kept within the minimum of manhood and chivalry," Saddam told a Lebanese delegation. Washington and London, rapidly building up some 250,000 troops in the Gulf region, have mounted a diplomatic drive to win over the 10 rotating members of the Security Council to back their resolution and persuade permanent members France, Russia and China not to veto it. China, like France and Russia, says U.N. inspectors should be given more time in Iraq. But analysts said it could tacitly back Washington by abstaining from voting on what it views as a distant problem not worth jeopardizing Sino-U.S. relations over. Syria, one of the 10 temporary Council members Washington must woo, said it had already turned down flat a request from Powell that it back the resolution, on grounds it would be exploited as a pretext to attack Iraq whatever it said. BUSH READY TO ACT WITH OR WITHOUT U.N. Bush has said that if the United Nations is not prepared to act, the United States will lead what he calls a coalition of the willing to disarm Iraq. Public opinion in Britain and many other countries is opposed to a war without U.N. authorization. Anti-war activists vowed to block all movement of U.S. arms by rail between American bases in Italy and Italian dock workers pledged to stop handling U.S. war cargo. Some 30,000 people marched through the Moroccan capital Rabat to denounce U.S. policy and at least 5,000 through Moscow. Hundreds of Omanis, carrying Iraqi and Palestinian flags, protested in the capital Muscat. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Iraqi leaders not to misinterpret such protests as a license to resist the United Nations. "They have to destroy these weapons... If they refuse to destroy them, the council will have to take a decision on that," he said. Former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, a Middle East expert and long-time friend of Saddam, met officials in Baghdad as part of a mission for President Vladimir Putin. Russia, which is owed billions of dollars by Iraq and has signed valuable contracts to develop Iraqi oilfields, says it sees no need to use force against Baghdad. A major element of Washington's diplomatic preparation for war has been to win Turkey's permission to use its bases as a launch pad and its border with Iraq as a gateway to invade. Turkey, anxious to dampen Kurdish nationalism in Iraq that might stir up separatism in its own Kurdish southeast, says it will send troops into northern Iraq on the heels of an American force to prevent an independent Kurdish state emerging. Kurds in northern Iraq reacted angrily to what appeared to be the terms of a near-complete U.S.-Turkish agreement. "If there's a forced incursion...believe me there will be uncontrolled clashes," said a spokesman for the Kurdish Democratic Party. Iraq said U.S. and British warplanes enforcing "no-fly zones" over the country hit civilian targets in the south but reported no casualties. The U.S. military said it was unaware of any such attack. Saudi Arabia raised the army's state of alert and started ordering gas masks for civilians. The kingdom is home to about 5,000 U.S. troops, but has yet to decide whether to allow U.S. forces to attack Iraq from its territory without U.N. approval. Instead, Kuwait is the main base for the planned thrust into southern Iraq. Kuwaiti authorities said Sunday an Iraqi had been arrested on suspicion of spying on American forces. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said an Arab summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh next Saturday would be aimed at achieving a united stance to avoid a war against Iraq. |
| Secretary of State Colin Powell (L) is welcomed by U.S. Ambassador to China Clark Randt (C), He Yafei (2nd-R), head of North American Division of Chinese Foreign Ministry and Luo Linquan (R), Deputy Director General of Protocol of Chinese Foreign Ministry, on his arrival at Capital International Airport in Beijing, February 23, 2003. Powell will meet top Chinese leaders in the Chinese capital to try to persuade Beijing to use its leverage over North Korea and to support a new U.N. resolution on Iraq. Photo by Andrew Wong/Reuters |
Saddam isn't a reincarnation of Saladin. The ultimatum with deadline is very close.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/03232206.htm
International
Iraqis have "no credibility": Blix
New York, Feb 23. (PTI): In a remark that could strengthen US President George W. Bush's determination to disarm Iraq by force, the United Nations Chief Weapons Inspector Hans Blix was today quoted as saying that Iraqis have "no credibility".
Blix, who is expected to present a crucial report on Iraqi cooperation early March, told the Time magazine that he found it "a bid odd" that Baghdad with "one of the best organised regimes in the Arab world" should claim to have no record of the alleged destruction of their stocks of anthrax and VX nerve agent.
Blix was prepared to contemplate a timeline and ultimatum for the destruction of key weapons and their building blocks. The Iraqis "cannot drag it on forever".
However, an agency report today quoted Iraq as saying that Blix's demand was being studied, and a ruling Baath Party member said the missile issue could be resolved through dialogue.
"Iraq is ready to address a request by Mr Blix on Iraqi missiles through technical dialogue," Saad Qasim Hammoudi was quoted as saying.
Iraq tests rocket before inspectors
Meanwhile, an agency report said that Iraq had test-fired a rocket engine today to show U.N. inspectors the al-Samoud 2 missile could not violate a 1991 range limit by the United Nations.
U.N. arms experts stood a few metres away to watch the test at the Falluja site 70 kms west of Baghdad.
In a separate development, a former Iraqi official claimed in Washington today that the Iraqi Air Force had developed a more sophisticated delivery and detonation system for chemical weapons than previously known to UN inspectors.
The ex-officer said that he witnessed the new bomb mechanism being tested--with water and oil rather than chemicals--at Habbaniyah in 2000, before the tests were switched to a different location, Washington Times reported, quoting a British news dispatch from Amman.
"Yeah, Hans. Then that makes two of you, ya frumpy little dolt."
With all due respect, Mr. Secretary, but it's long since past that time. Get a new watch.
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