Posted on 03/17/2003 7:39:03 AM PST by TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
Mon March 17, 2003 10:24 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush will issue an ultimatum to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on Monday night that Saddam step down or face war, a White House spokesman said.
Bush will address the American people at 8 p.m. in the wake of the failure by the U.N. Security Council to reach a consensus on how to deal with Iraq.
"The United Nations has failed to enforce its own demands that Iraq immediately disarm. As a result, the diplomatic window has been closed," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
"The president will address the" nation at 8 p.m. He will say that to avoid military conflict, Saddam Hussein must leave the country," Fleischer said. "The next move will be up to Saddam Hussein."
Countries with right-wing leaders have been supporting us. That's the general trend, France and Britain are the big exceptions, they're both special cases (the French do not have a pro-America side to their political spectrum, and Tony Blair is a 1-man political force). Analyzing these countries one-by-one for special insight into their national character is silly. Spain is with us because Aznar is right-wing; if there was a left-wing government, Spain would be blocking us, probably as shrilly as France/Germany are, but Spain would get about as much notice as Belgium.
Monday, March 17, 2003
UNITED NATIONS:The United States and its allies on Monday withdrew the resolution seeking the use of force against Saddam Hussein. The White House, saying, "the diplomatic window has closed," announced that President Bush would address the nation at 8 p.m. EST.
Saying no compromise within the U.N. Security Council is possible, British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock announced to reporters that there will be no vote on Tuesday on the resolution, which was co-sponsored by Britain, the United States and Spain.
With the "explicit threat" of a veto by France -- which was referred to only as "one country in particular -- U.S. officials said, there was no way the resolution would pass. Greenstock said this country's objection came even "before the Iraq government itself" responded to a British proposal for a new set of deadlines and benchmarks.
But "we believe the vote would have been close," said U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte.
Greenstock said Sunday's summit in the Azores with the United States, Britain, Spain and Portugal concluded that "no ultimatum, no pressure, and no disarmament" would come as a result of the French position.
The cosponsors of the U.S.-backed resolution "reserve their right to take their own steps to secure the disarmament of Iraq," he added.
If the allies called for a vote and the resolution failed, they would be in violation of the U.N. charter if they went to war. By not holding a vote at all -- regardless of whether the resolution would have garnered enough support -- they could still use force against Saddam and not be in direct violation of the United Nations.
Moments after the announcement, French ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said that in one-on-one consultations in the recent hours and overnight, "the majority of the council confirmed they do not want a use of force."
Maintaining a "huge majority" of the council opposed the resolution, La Sabliere said the council argued "it would not be legitimate to authorize the use of force while the inspections set up by the resolution are producing results."
"I think that the diplomatic window is never closed, not even in the worst of times," said Pakistani Ambassador Munir Akram.
Saying that the United Nations has "failed to enforce its own demands, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Monday that Bush will issue an ultimatum to Saddam Monday night that the Iraqi dictator step down or face war.
"The diplomatic window has closed as a result of the U.N.'s failure to enforce its own resolutions for Saddam to disarm," Fleischer said.
He declined to say whether Saddam would be given a deadline. "I will not get into any discussions about when military hostilities may or may not begin."
The decision came one day after Bush said the "moment of truth" had arrived at the U.N.
"We hope tomorrow the U.N. will do its job," the president said Sunday at a news conference in the Azores, where he met with the leaders of Britain, Spain and Portugal. "Tomorrow is a moment of truth for the world."
France and Russia had threatened to veto the resolution for weeks, but the measure was withdrawn when it became apparent that it would not get the nine votes it needed to win a majority.
Breaking his weeks-long record of silence on the issue, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that a war to force Saddam Hussein to disarm would put the world's security in jeopardy.
"We are for solving the problem exclusively by peaceful means," Putin said during a meeting with religious leaders from Chechnya.
"Any other development would be a mistake -- fraught with the toughest consequences, leading to victims and destabilization of the international situation as a whole."
Putin's recent silence on Iraq led some to speculate that he might soften Russia's opposition to authorizing a U.S.-led military strike. The Interfax news agency also quoted the U.S. ambassador to Moscow, Alexander Vershbow, as saying that the United States would give Russia advance warning of the start of war.
Earlier Monday, Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov said the Security Council would not approve a U.S.-backed resolution opening the way to military conflict.
"As before, this draft has no chances for passage by the Security Council," Fedotov said. "We think that no additional resolutions are necessary."
Fedotov indicated that Russia supported France's call for a ministerial meeting at the Security Council to discuss the latest report by chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix.
France called for Tuesday's emergency session to set a timeline for Iraq's peaceful disarmament and reiterated its threat to exercise its veto in the Security Council.
"France cannot accept the resolution that sets an ultimatum and envisages an automatic use of force," Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said Monday on French radio.
Still defiant, Saddam threatened a wider war if attacked.
"When the enemy starts a large-scale battle, he must realize that the battle between us will be open wherever there is sky, land and water in the entire world," he told his military commanders in remarks carried by the official Iraqi news agency.
Saddam also once again denied his nation possesses chemical weapons.
At his news conference in the Azores with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, Bush criticized France's role in the diplomatic struggle over Iraq.
"France showed their cards," he said. "After I said what I said, they said they were going to veto anything that held Saddam to account."
"You cannot have a resolution which simply stipulates further discussion," Blair said.
Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix finished up a plan that calls for months more of inspections in Iraq, although there was news that inspectors would be ordered to pull out of Iraq within 24 hours.
In Vienna, Austria, Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, announced Monday the Bush administration had advised the agency to start pulling its inspectors out of Iraq. About 60 inspectors and support staff in Iraq could be evacuated in as little as 48 hours.
The State Department on Sunday night ordered nonessential personnel and all family members to leave Israel, Kuwait and Syria due to security in the region and rising anti-American sentiment.
"We do not have threat information specific to these areas," said State spokesman Lou Fintor, who added that the move represents a "prudent measure" as we prepare for various "contingencies" in the area. "The Department of State has emphasized that the president has made no decision for the need for military action."
Britain advised all of its citizens except diplomatic staff to leave Kuwait as soon as possible. And U.N. observers and border monitors, moving to a heightened state of alert, ceased all operations on the Iraq-Kuwait boarder.
Bush said war could be averted if Saddam left the country. But there's no sign yet that that would happen.
Fox News' Teri Schultz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Quite true. Why bother wasting more time with weasal France?
"We are for solving the problem exclusively by peaceful means," Putin said during a meeting with religious leaders from Chechnya.
Does anyone else see the rank hypocrisy in this statement?
Gotta love the irony and chutzbah.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.