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On Brink of War, Bush Sets Monday Deadline for U.N. to Authorize Force Against Iraq
AP ^ | 3-17-03 | Ron Fournier

Posted on 03/16/2003 7:03:16 PM PST by Rome2000

LAJES, Azores Islands (AP) - On the brink of war, President Bush and summit partners from Britain and Spain gave the United Nations a Monday deadline to endorse the use of force to compel Iraq's immediate disarmament. "Tomorrow is a moment of truth for the world," said Bush, commander-in-chief of 250,000 troops ringing Iraq and ready to act with or without U.N. approval. He spoke Sunday after an Atlantic island summit with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

Though the leaders pledged to seek compromise with U.N. foes through the night and all day Monday, they offered little hope of a diplomatic breakthrough. Even if a compromise plan somehow secured approval of a U.S.-Britain-Spain resolution at the U.N., it would delay military action only a week or so, officials said.

Bush suggested the resolution might not even be put to a vote.

"If Saddam refuses even now to cooperate fully with the United Nations, he brings on himself the serious consequences," the leaders said in a joint statement. They went on to list their plans for Iraq after hostilities, including repairing damage that might be caused by Saddam Hussein and preserving oil and other natural assets.

The leaders gathered with more than 250,000 troops, a naval armada and an estimated 1,000 combat aircraft positioned in the Persian Gulf area, an American-led force ready to strike if and when the president gives the word.

"The Iraqi regime will disarm itself or the Iraqi regime will be disarmed by force," Bush said.

The summit, held at a U.S. military base on this dot in the eastern Atlantic, amounted to less than two hours of talks. No more was needed, U.S. officials said, because the conclusion was preordained.

Even as they flew to a meeting billed as a last-ditch bid at diplomacy, Bush and his advisers worked on a major war address that he could deliver as early as Monday night. The speech would give Saddam a final ultimatum to disarm or face war, probably within days, senior officials said.

At a post-summit news conference, Bush urged other nations to support "the immediate and unconditional disarmament" of Iraq.

France, Germany and Russia have opposed an additional United Nations resolution to set an ultimatum for the Iraqi leader to disarm - and the French have threatened to veto it. Efforts to win the votes of uncommitted nations at the U.N. Security Council have faltered in recent days.

Blair, speaking with reporters on his plane en route to London, said British diplomats would work through the night to try to persuade France to lift its veto threat of a war resolution.

En route back to Washington, Bush spoke by telephone with Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Secretary of State Colin Powell, White House officials said after the president landed.

At the United Nations, diplomats said it was unclear exactly what the United States, Britain and Spain wanted from the Security Council on Monday. France, unmoved by the summit, planned to push ahead with its proposal, a 30-day timetable for Iraq to meet disarmament tasks that would be set by chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix. The plan doesn't include an ultimatum.

Blair, under the most domestic pressure to get U.N. backing, accused the resolution's opponents of weakening the alliance against Saddam.

"I have to say that I really believe that had we given that strong message some time ago, Saddam might have realized that the games had to stop," the prime minister said.

Aznar, the prime minister of Spain, where millions of protesters staged rallies Friday, said he was not dissuaded by dissent.

"We are well aware of the international world public opinion, of its concern, and we are also very well aware of our responsibilities and obligations," Aznar said.

Portugal Prime Minister Jose Durao Barroso called the Azores summit "the last chance of a political solution. It may be a small chance but if there is only one chance in a million it's worth trying this opportunity."

Far from this lush Portuguese archipelago, Saddam warned that if Iraq is attacked, it would take the war anywhere in the world "wherever there is sky, land or water."

Though Blix was working on details of a plan envisioning that inspections would continue for months - he was to present it to the Security Council on Tuesday - inspectors flew most of their helicopters out of Iraq. Germany advised its citizens to leave the country immediately.

Bush was expected to issue a similar warning to humanitarian workers and journalists in his upcoming speech, dubbed "the ultimatum address" inside the White House.

The president laid the choice at Saddam's feet.

"The decision is his to make. It's been his to make all along, as to whether or not there's the use of military," the president said. "He got to decide whether he's going to disarm, and he didn't. He can decide whether he wants to leave the country."

Those were the only two alternatives to war offered by Bush, and neither was likely to occur, officials said.

In a flash of frustration, Bush jumped in to field a question posed to Aznar about a new U.N. resolution.

"We do have a resolution," the president snapped. Punching the air with his fist, he referred to last fall's unanimous vote to disarm Iraq and said: "The United Nations Security Council looked at the issue four and a half months ago and voted unanimously to say, 'Disarm immediately and unconditionally, and if you don't, there are going to be serious consequences.' The world has spoken, and it did in a unified voice."

Then he apologized to Aznar for answering the question.

Later, Bush said the U.N. "didn't do its job" to stop bloodshed in Rwanda or Kosovo. "We hope tomorrow the U.N. will do its job. If not, all of us need to step back and try to figure out how to make the U.N. work better, as we head into the 21st century."

Maybe the U.N. could make amends, he said, by helping rebuild Iraq after Saddam is gone.

Bush waffled on his recent promise to put the second resolution to a vote at the U.N. whether or not it was doomed to fail.

"France showed their cards" by pledging to veto any resolution that contained a war-making ultimatum, he said.

U.S. officials said the three leaders were unlikely to seek a vote if it was likely to fail, because rejection would undermine their argument that war without U.N. authority was legal.

In Washington, Vice President Dick Cheney underscored Bush's frustration with Paris by saying, "It's difficult to take the French serious." He rejected a proposal by French President Jacques Chirac to impose a 30-day deadline for Iraq to disarm.

Two thousand miles away, Bush was asked whether the diplomatic window would be closed Monday. "That's what I'm saying," he replied.

Unfazed by Bush administration criticism, Chirac said on CBS' "60 Minutes," "I think that the relationship between the French and the Americans, the human relationship, is a relationship of friendship, of love even, I would say. But if I see my friend or somebody I dearly love going down the wrong path, then I owe it to him to warn him be careful."

AP-ES-03-16-03 2128EST


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: azoresislands; march17deadline

1 posted on 03/16/2003 7:03:17 PM PST by Rome2000
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To: Rome2000
France showed their cards" by pledging to veto any resolution that contained a war-making ultimatum, he said.

Its all over but the shouting, diplomacy time is over and now the crazies of the world are about to learn the hard way that you don't mess with the USA when a Republican is in the White House.

2 posted on 03/16/2003 7:05:33 PM PST by Rome2000
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To: Rome2000
Both Bush and Cheney pretty much stuck it to the French today. Good for them.
3 posted on 03/16/2003 7:05:36 PM PST by rs79bm (No more fireworks at Euro Disney, it caused all the French army soldiers to surrender)
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To: rs79bm
In Washington, Vice President Dick Cheney underscored Bush's frustration with Paris by saying, "It's difficult to take the French seriously."

You got to love Cheney's comment -- best comment so far by a U.S. official in this whole sordid diplomatic process.

4 posted on 03/16/2003 7:09:16 PM PST by Scott from the Left Coast
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To: Rome2000
We are being set up to take a fall.

After we become the worlds bully , the world will force the UN on us.

It will be the flip side of what "we" have been doing to the world and what our government needs to eliminate our Constitution and put us under the UN's constitution.

5 posted on 03/16/2003 7:33:37 PM PST by Eustace
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To: Eustace
We have a veto so the UN could never move against us.

There is a thread on here about an Arab proposition to remove us from the UN, but they don't amount to much without our military.

6 posted on 03/16/2003 7:43:14 PM PST by ez (Advise and Consent = Debate and VOTE!!)
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To: Eustace
It will be the flip side of what "we" have been doing to the world and what our government needs to eliminate our Constitution and put us under the UN's constitution

Get a grip we won't let them do that, we're the good guys.

7 posted on 03/16/2003 7:43:27 PM PST by Mister Baredog ((God Bless GW Bush))
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To: Rome2000
If we want to know when they're going to war, just check Rush's schedule. You know how something important happens every time he's out on vacation from the radio show.
8 posted on 03/16/2003 8:26:40 PM PST by Moonmad27 ("Run free, Samurai Jack")
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To: Rome2000
Saddam warned that if Iraq is attacked, it would take the war anywhere in the world "wherever there is sky, land or water."

Which will finally cause the people in those countries to see the truth....despite what their major media and their leaders have been telling them.

9 posted on 03/16/2003 9:42:51 PM PST by xzins (Babylon, you have been weighed in the balance and been found wanting!)
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To: Scott from the Left Coast
Big Time does have a way with words, doesn't he?
10 posted on 03/16/2003 9:45:31 PM PST by The Great Satan (Revenge, Terror and Extortion: A Guide for the Perplexed)
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To: The Great Satan
Chirac said on CBS' "60 Minutes," "I think that the relationship between the French and the Americans, the human relationship, is a relationship of friendship, of love even, I would say. But if I see my friend or somebody I dearly love going down the wrong path, then I owe it to him to warn him be careful."

Reality: My friend is going to the enemy's house before he carries out the threat to kill my friend's family. The minute my friend turns his back to me, I slip a knife in his back.

The quote by Chiraq makes me ill. Can someone be any more slimy? At least Saddam is direct in his hatred toward the US. No wonder Chiraq has no qualms hosting Mugabe. The man has no morals whatsoever.
11 posted on 03/16/2003 9:59:20 PM PST by winner3000
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