A 30 or 45-day delay is a NON-STARTER

White House Press Briefing

[GLDNGUN]

More signs that the President is a man on a mission. Ari Fleischer, responding to stories that the US may delay action against Iraq to appease some other countries just said "a 30 or 45-day delay is a non-starter."

[GLDNGUN]

I hope this will give hope to those who are so quick to give up on this President. It's hypocritical to accuse Bush of going "wobbly" and then go "wobbly" yourself. Next time you get discouraged, PRAY FOR COURAGE and PRAY FOR THE PRESIDENT.

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

Thanks.

[over3Owithabrain]

Notice Ari was sure not to rule out a 29 day delay or anything less. There will be a delay - count on it. And it will weaken America's stance.

[Argus]

It's not President Bush's fortitude that's in question. It's Tony Blair's, or rather the Labour Party's. The support of UK is Bush's main bulwark against the Dems' accusations that he's "unilateralist", etc. If the British pull out, the President's position will be badly eroded.

[TheLurkerX]

Any delay is a nonstarter. We've waited too long weather wise already.

[PhiKapMom]

Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld was just asked in the press briefing if Tony Blair and Great Britain's troops would be with us when we disarm Saddam.

Rumsfeld said that Blair operates under a different Government situation and wasn't sure under the circumstances if the British troops would be there during the War to Liberate Iraq or be there after the War on the ground.

Our military has planned a work-around if GB does not join with the United States in ousting Saddam. Rumsfeld said he just met with the Defence Minister of GB about an hour ago and that Pres Bush has been talking to his British counterpart.

If I misunderstood, please correct this -- am waiting for the Rumsfeld transcript to come out to confirm!

[Churchillspirit]

Well said, Gldngun!

[dirtboy]

I think Bush is holding one last card, namely a possible ten-day wait with specific demands for Saddam, as March 17th is near the full moon, and ten more days after March 17th will put the moon at a waning crescent where there is little or no moonlight for a week, perfect for military operations. Plus, he doesn't have quite all of his forces in place yet. He's not waiting because it suits the UN, he's waiting because it suits the tactical situation.

[Cyber Liberty]

To some, "non-starter" means, "We can't wait to cave in to the next bad guy who comes down the pike."

Me, I'm with you. I think we're extending nothing at all, this is just wishful thinking by some "reporters".

[Indy Pendance]

Here's a related story

US Says March 17 Iraq Deadline is Firm

[Seeking the truth]

Pray for Him

[livius]

I think once things get underway, the governments that have been hesitant will be with us. I´m in Spain right now, and I can tell you, Aznar is taking all sorts of heat from the Socialists for his firm pro-US stance. They´re trying to organize a vote of censure against him in the Spanish Parliament.

Once things get underway, I suspect all of this nonsense will stop. Once things get underway...

[CaptSkip]

I heard it as well. Any modest delay that allows Turkey to come on-board, and the moon to darken is OK. Ten days???

[AMDG]

To paraphrase Lady Thatcher:

Don't go wobbly on us now Tony!

[PhiKapMom]

I do too! I expect Spain to remain totally on board -- there has not been one second of waffling from them. I am so impressed with the Spanish spokeswoman who has been representing Spain!

[PhiKapMom]

Thanks for pisting the reminder. Might want to post that on all these Iraq threads. If the President ever needed our prayers, it is right now!

[A Texan]

We will delay, and I see no reason why. Ari said a 30 to 45 day delay is a non-starter that doesn't mean we won't delay two weeks past the 17th. If we propose the 0 day as the 17th today it would only give Iraq 6 days to come forward with all of their sh*t, and everyone will say what they have been saying all along. . . We need more time.

We will cave and delay at least till the 24th. Thus giving Iraq time it "dig in" and place our military personal in even greater risk.

[Cicero]

It's not clear to me that delay will help Tony Blair. Rather the opposite. His Labour opponents are not asking for delay so they can come on board, they are asking delay so they can organize the revolt.

[livius]

That´s Ana Palacio. She´s an attorney in private life, and is known for being a very principled - and outspoken - person. Her sister is also in the Aznar government. I was speaking with a friend here who told me the family is very ¨clean¨ (no political scandals, unlike many Spanish political families) and that she has an excellent reputation among people she works with. He said that she´s not one to mince words...as she has shown.

[Cyber Liberty]

The smarter approach will be, "No daedlines. You'll find out about the time-line of events when the first B-2's bombs hit your air-defenses."

In case you haven't been parsing the words carefully, you might miss the fact that the US has never set a deadline in this whole deal. It's been other people making up deadlines, not us.