Posted on 03/19/2003 7:15:12 PM PST by HAL9000
WASHINGTON, March 19 (UPI) -- White House spokesman Ari Fleischer Wednesday night announced the initial phase of the U.S. disarmament of Iraq had begun."The initial phases of the disarmament of Iraq have begun," Fleischer told reporters gathered in the White House press room, adding that the president would address the nation at 10:15 p.m. EDT.
Two bombing runs on Iraq are expected tonight, NBC News said.
President George W. Bush received word shortly after 8 p.m. EST that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and his sons had not heeded his warning to leave the country or face military action.
"Disarmament of the Iraqi regime will begin at a time of the president's choosing," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said about 15 minutes after the deadline expired.
Bush held a late meeting with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers before retiring to the White House residence for dinner with first lady Laura Bush.
Fleischer said the president received word from Chief of Staff Andrew Card, who had been in contact with the Central Intelligence Agency and the national security team. Card informed the president in telephone call that Saddam remained in Iraq.
The reality of pending military action was palatable within the West Wing.
"The American people are ready for the disarmament of Saddam Hussein. The nation is ready; the cause is just," said a somber Fleischer told reporters.
It was earlier in the day that Fleischer said, "Americans ought to be prepared for loss of life. Americans ought to be prepared for the importance of disarming Saddam Hussein to protect the peace."
Bush was expected to address the nation from the Oval Office, though the White House would not say whether that would occur before hostilities began or after the war was underway.
It was uncertain whether the president would make his remarks on Wednesday night or if military action would begin before morning. Fleischer would only tell members of the White House Press Corps to "stay flexible."
The showdown is the culmination of 12 years of U.N. resolutions ignored by Iraq and months of unsuccessful efforts by the United States and the international community to convince the Arab leader to disclose a cache of chemical and biological weapons they claim he has.
The White House had said there were no plans to officially mark the passage of the deadline. Fleischer could not say whether the president was seeking any type of spiritual guidance or support, as he was about to give the order for war.
Bush remained out of sight Wednesday, making a 20-minute telephone call early in the day to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has backed the president at great political risk, including the loss of a Cabinet minister who resigned in protest. Bush congratulated Blair on finally gaining the support of Parliament for the war, in a vote late Tuesday.
The president sent Congress a formal notification of his plans to use military force in Iraq, saying that further diplomatic and other peaceful means would neither adequately protect the national security of the United States nor lead to the enforcement of the U.N. Security Council resolutions calling for Iraq's disarmament.
Later he met with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. Ridge's agency has discounted reports that the advent of war would prompt officials to move the national threat alert from "high" to "severe" -- the highest level on the agency's five-color terror warning scale.
"There are no plans to raise the alert level beyond where it is today," DHS spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. It would only be heightened should the intelligence community receive "specific, corroborated threats of a specific nature," he said.
Bush and U.S. officials have maintained that Iraq has ties with al-Qaida, the Islamic extremist group that U.S. officials blame for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington that killed some 3,000 people.
The U.S. Secret Service on Tuesday expanded the perimeter around the executive mansion, banning pedestrian traffic and implementing stepped-up identification checks for those entering the White House complex. Earlier in the week, war protesters had perched in Lafayette Park directly across the street from the White House, chanting, praying and playing instruments, but they were pushed back more than a block as the park was cordoned off.
"It is the right of the American people to speak out. The president and I think it's been widely recognized that there is an overwhelming strong majority of the American people who see it differently from the protesters. And that's their right to see it that way," Fleischer said.
On Wednesday afternoon groups of picket-sign wielding demonstrators rimmed the security perimeter and at one point challenged uniformed Secret Service officers, attempting to break through the barricades near the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, part of the White House campus. Police said 29 people were arrested on charges of crossing a police line.
Copyright © 2001-2003 United Press International
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