Posted on 03/05/2003 11:33:36 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
Obstructionism by 'Axis of Weasel' Doesn't Faze Bush
NewsMax.com Wires and NewsMax.comWASHINGTON – President Bush remained confident today that a U.N. resolution seeking authorization for war against Iraq would pass even as the foreign ministers for France, Germany and Russia said they would stop the measure.
Wednesday, March 5, 2003
"What you are observing is a fluid situation as different nations make different statements that all lead up to the one day which is the most important day, which is the day of the vote," said White House press secretary Ari Fleischer during his morning briefing with reporters.
Foreign ministers for the three opposing nations gathered in Paris for an emergency meeting on the potential U.S.-led war on Iraq. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said today that Russia would use its veto at the U. N. Security Council.
"Yes, we will use our right of veto," the Russian minister said, according to the Russian news agency Itar-Tass. The ministers issued a joint statement saying Russia and France were ready to "assume full responsibility on this issue."
The ministers met ahead of the U. N. Security Council meeting set for March 7, when chief arms inspector Hans Blix is expected to deliver another progress report on the inspections in Iraq.
"Our common goal is to achieve real and complete disarmament in Iraq in compliance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441. We believe that it is possible to implement it only by peaceful means, i.e. through inspections," according to a joint statement issued by the three ministers.
Germany and especially Russia and oil-hungry France have strong economic ties to Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. The New York Post has dubbed these appeasement nations as the "Axis of Weasel."
Bush has had difficulty finding strong international support for an offensive against Iraq. He has launched an aggressive public relations campaign, speaking with world leaders almost daily by telephone to make his case for the assault. On Tuesday he spoke by telephone with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee of India and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. Mubarak's government, however, sponsored a massive anti-U.S. rally today in Cairo.
The administration has appeared ever close to war as Bush continues to say that Iraq would be forced to disarm in "weeks, not months." Bush's top military brass, including Army Gen. Tommy Franks, who would lead U.S. forces into Iraq, were seen at the White House this morning.
Pope John Paul II dispatched his envoy Cardinal Pio Laghi to meet with Bush today on the Iraq crisis.
Fleischer said that there had been a "lot of guessing" on how many votes the United States would get in the Security Council and that it was speculation the White House had seen before.
"We've seen this pattern before where people believe that it's impossible, or that it's a very uphill fight for the president to achieve a United Nations outcome. And we saw that that speculation was wrong in 1990. We saw it was wrong in the fall of 2002. And I believe you'll see again that it's wrong in 2003. And that's why the President has expressed his confidence in the ultimate outcome of a vote," Fleischer said.
Any U.S. measure, however, would need the support or abstentions from veto-bearing France and Russia. Their foreign ministers maintained that Iraq "continues eliminating missiles and giving information on biological and chemical weapons" and said inspections should be stepped up.
The United States has decried Iraq's failure to account for missing biological and chemical weapons, its stockpile of al Samoud 2 missiles and the Iraqi regime's brutality toward its citizens.
The United States, Britain and Spain introduced a draft resolution late Monday afternoon during a meeting of the Security Council in New York. The three nations declared, "Iraq has failed to take the final opportunity afforded to it in Resolution 1441." Resolution 1441 demanded that Iraq account for its cache of missing munitions and biochemical weapons and immediately disarm or face "serious consequences."
Ivanov said the three nations proceed from the view that the road "we propose is the most rational one, not only regarding the settlement of the Iraq problem, but also in regard to coping with other challenges, above all that of fighting terrorism."
He stressed that "these aims can be achieved if the international community is united, and above all, if there is unity in the U.N. Security Council."
Copyright 2003 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
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Thanks ...
Thanks ...
Speaking of surprises, you might also get a kick out of the image I've got, uh...*blown up,* so to speak, for use on my poster at University of Memphis antiwar protest counterdemonstrations. It annoys the pro-raghead supporters considerably....
*see the image at the bottom of response #5...*
-archy-/-
FOX News is reporting that there will be more bombs dropped in the FIRST day than were used in all of Gulf War I. Saddam is toast !
Bu-bye, Saddam ! . . .
President Bush:
Hey, Colin! Do you know what time it is? ...
I have pet ferrets at home and they are, of course, nothing more than a domesticated member of the weasel family. They are loyal. They come when called, at least most of the time. They show appreciation and love for those who take care of them in their time of need. They would never bite the hand that feeds them. They are litter trained and almost never mess their home. Can you honestly say any of those things about France, Belgium, Russia, or Germany? Weasels can be truly wonderful animals, and they deserve better than being compared to these countries.
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