Posted on 03/17/2003 7:39:03 AM PST by TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
BREAKING on FOXNEWS now...the Israel government preparing their citicens for war told to buy things needed to get safe rooms ready (duct tape plastic) and check their filters on their issued by their government gas masks).
WHERE ARE OUR GOV ISSUED GAS MASKS?
The smallpox vacc did not go over well and it is there if needed but too many unknown side effects. Why was this money not spent on gas masks?
Monday, March 17, 2003
WASHINGTON — President Bush will offer Saddam Hussein an ultimatum Monday night -- step down or face war.
Saying "the diplomatic window has closed," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer announced that the president would address the nation at 8 p.m. EST.
Fleischer made the announcement minutes after the United States and its allies withdrew their Security Council resolution seeking the use of force against Iraq.
"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 the Iraqi dictator would be given a deadline. "I will not get into any discussions about when military hostilities may or may not begin," Fleischer said.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said during a news conference that Saddam's departure would allow the Iraqi crisis to be resolved through a "peaceful entry of force." Bush wants immediate members of Saddam's family to leave Baghdad with him.
"The president will make clear tonight that this cannot continue indefinitely," Powell said, referring to Saddam's defiance of international disarmament demands. "I think the time for diplomacy has passed."
Later in Baghdad, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said "any child" in Iraq knows that Saddam will not leave the country.
"The only option is the departure of the warmonger No. 1 in the world -- the failing President Bush who has made his country a joke in the world," Sabri said.
Bush's speech, scheduled to run anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, will include a warning for humanitarian workers and journalists to leave Iraq, officials said. Bush also plans to warn them that Saddam has a history of taking hostages, they said.
Earlier, saying no compromise within the U.N. Security Council is possible, British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock said there would be no vote on the resolution, which had been co-sponsored by Britain, the United States and Spain.
U.S. officials said that with the "explicit threat" of a veto by France, there was no way the resolution would pass. Greenstock said this country's objection came even before Iraq responded to new deadlines.
But "we believe the vote would have been close," said U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte.
Greenstock said "no ultimatum, no pressure, and no disarmament" would come as a result of the French position.
The co-sponsors of the U.S.-backed resolution "reserve their right to take their own steps to secure the disarmament of Iraq," he added.
"Unfortunately, over the last two weeks … despite best efforts to see whether language could be adjusted to make it more acceptable … it was clear" that some nations wouldn't support any resolution setting a deadline, Powell said, referring to France.
"It was our judgment … that no further purpose would be served by pushing this resolution."
At his news conference Sunday in the Azores with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Spanish King Juan Carlos and Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar of Spain, 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."
Early Monday morning, several top administration officials -- including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Attorney General John Ashcroft, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and FBI Director Robert Mueller -- filed into the White House.
Bush and his advisers were still debating whether to give Saddam a deadline to leave. Many thought a timetable would be a bad idea. Whether Bush sets a deadline or not, officials said war is only days away.
Powell, who at one time was the administration's biggest dove when it came to Iraq, said that most peaceful overtures to Saddam have ended
"I can think of nothing that Saddam Hussein could do diplomatically -- I think that time is now over," he said. "He's had his chance, he's had many chances over the last 12 years and he's blown every one of those chances."
The latest draft of Bush's address gives Saddam a firm deadline to go into exile or face military action, two senior White House officials told the Associated Press. They said the deadline was a matter of days.
They cautioned, however, that Bush could decide to drop the deadline.
Ahead of Bush's address, top congressional leaders were to go to the White House to meet with the president.
Bush spoke early Monday with his staunchest allies -- Blair, Carlos and Aznar.
Powell spoke to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and with a handful of foreign ministers, including: Jack Straw of Britain, Ana Palacio of Spain, Alexander Downer of Australia, Joschka Fischer of Germany, George Papandreou of Greece, Igor Ivanov of Russia, Li Zhaoxing of China, Dominique de Villepin of France, Francois Ousseynou Fall of Guinea and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
But he had no plans to talk with French President Jacques Chirac, and close aides said Powell would not attend a foreign ministers' meeting called by France with the support of Russia and Germany.
France and Russia had threatened to veto the resolution for weeks, but the measure was withdrawn when it became obvious that it wouldn't get the nine votes it needed to win a majority.
In a possible sign of imminent war, 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 border.
Gen. Tommy Franks, the commander of the 250,000 U.S. troops in the Gulf region, met in Kuwait on Monday with his land forces commander, Army Lt. Gen. David D. McKiernan. Franks then returned to his Central Command post at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar. On Saturday, he met with his Navy and Marine Corps commanders in Bahrain.
Powell on Monday said discussions were continuing with Turkey despite the Turkish legislature's decision not to allow that country to be used by the United States for a northern offensive. The Turkish government fears that war in Iraq would cause an uprising among Kurds in northern Iraq, including possibly an attempt to create their own state.
"We've assured the Turks that we are committed to the territorial integrity of Iraq," Powell said.
U.S. officials are reviewing whether to raise the national terror alert.
An administration official said the alert status was unlikely to change Monday, and said the start of a war would not automatically elevate it from its current yellow, or middle, status. New intelligence information will be discussed every morning by the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, which assess the threat level.
Fox News' Liza Porteus and Teri Schultz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Oh yes, rest assured they will. We're gonna hear ad nauseum about the plight of the innocent Iraqi people that we're bombing. Look for Helen Thomas and Martin Sheen to lead the charge. You want a nice lunchtime image? Picture Martin and Helen in a sex scene.
MM
Pass the Dramamine!
Leni
Leni
You didn't hear this from me (as I know you're not interested in what I'm selling ;-), but one good way to correct that perception is to get Congress to pass a real declaration of war. Think Popeye, spinach...
Will the Kurds be considered this time around, will we utilize them while protecting them? They for many years have been trying to do what we claim to want to do with Iraq,live peacefully under a non dictatorship government.The Kurds of iraq are concerned about Turkey attacking them while we are attacking Iraq.
Also in this ABC News it was reported that the U.S. gave Turkey billions of dollars so we can use a patch of their land to attack Iraq. The Kurds are concerned. Does anyone care about them? What's the story on this? Was this ABC News report accurate?
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