Posted on 03/13/2003 9:56:46 PM PST by Indy Pendance
The Fox News TV station on Thursday quoted U.S. officials as saying that they saw Iraqi surface-to-surface missiles (SCUDs) being moved into Western Iraq, within striking distance of Israel.
The officials also said that they saw movement of Iraqi troops and heavy artillery toward the south, possibly to take up positions in Southern Iraq, where they could be able to shell U.S. troops dug in inside Kuwait.
The officials said that these developments could signal that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is considering a preemptive missile attacks on Israel, as well as attacks on U.S. forces stationed along his southern border. They said that the U.S. army is prepared for such a scenario and there prescribed counter-measures in place, should Saddam attack first.
U.S. makes no progress on war resolution The United States and Britain again failed on Thursday to win over neutral nations for a UN Security Council resolution to authorize a looming invasion of Iraq, and said they might keep trying until next week or walk away.
Still lacking Security Council support for a resolution that would give Iraq a few more days to satisfy its disarmament demands, the White House said it still hoped to persuade six undecided nations on the Security Council to back a resolution giving Iraqi President Saddam Hussein a few days to meet the demands or face an invasion.
But as Thursday drew to a close, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte and British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock decided not to bring their resolution to a vote on Friday, pushing the impasse into the weekend and beyond on new British compromise proposals aimed at bridging the gap.
Earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Washington could also pull the resolution, co-sponsored by Britain and Spain, and wage war under the authority of previous UN votes.
"The options remain, go for a vote and see what members say or not go for a vote," Powell told a U.S. congressional committee. "But ... all the options that you can imagine are before us and (we will) be examining them today, tomorrow and into the weekend."
With over 250,000 American and British troops poised to invade Iraq, President George W. Bush maintains he will launch a war without UN backing if necessary. He added to the U.S. firepower on Thursday, sending B-2 stealth bombers to the region.
The latest round of three-hour Security Council consultations on Thursday were again deadlocked, with undecided members trying to come up with their own proposals.
Mexico, Chile, Pakistan and Guinea criticized the resolution and spoke in favor of proposals that would not immediately trigger war, diplomats said.
Bush's main ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, is desperate for a UN resolution that could shore up his crumbling political base in the face of strong anti-war sentiment in his Labor Party and in the country.
France reiterated its opposition to giving Saddam any ultimatums and said it was prepared to veto any such resolution. Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said: "It's not a question of giving Iraq a few more days before committing to the use of force. It's about making resolute progress towards peaceful disarmament, as mapped out by inspections that offer a credible alternative to war."
As the confrontation deepened, a tone of real bitterness crept into U.S.-French exchanges. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said France had rejected the latest British proposals even before Iraq did. "If that's not an unreasonable veto, what is?" he said.
Britain offered a new concession by offering to drop a demand for Saddam to appear on Iraqi television and own up to past illegal weapons programs.
Britain, council diplomats said, also was willing to give a substantial extension to the ultimatum in the current resolution giving Saddam until March 17 to show he was ready to disarm. But the United States objected to anything more than a "very, very" modest extension.
If they could get the nine votes, Bush and Blair would be likely to argue they had a moral victory and mandate to conduct the war, even if the resolution were vetoed.
In Baghdad, a diplomatic source said Iraq would send a report on its disposal of VX nerve agent to United Nations chief weapons inspector Hans Blix on Friday and another report on anthrax a few days later.
The United States and Britain say Iraq has failed to account for hundreds of tonnes of the deadly agents which they believe it produced in the 1980s. Iraq says it destroyed all its stocks in 1992 but has so far failed to provide documents or witnesses.
Maybe she was just talking about our ship and sub movements and mentioned that they carry tomahawks? Not sure at all. Glad I didn't start anything :)
Is "Scuds" an assumption? They're pretty big. Thought they were all gone. Iraq has smaller ones for smaller payloads like biologicals.
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