Bush Says Won't Delay on Iraq, Welcomes Resolution

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush said on Friday the United States would fight efforts to delay a decision on Iraq, insisting on bringing the disarmament standoff to a head "in a matter of weeks and not months."

"Saddam Hussein is not disarming. He is a danger to the world. He must disarm and that's why I have constantly said ... this issue will come to a head in a matter of weeks and not months," Bush said after talks with his closest ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "Any attempt to drag the process on for months will be resisted by the United States."

Bush said a second U.N. resolution on Iraq would be welcomed but was not needed. "This needs to be resolved quickly. Should the United Nations decide to pass a second resolution, it would be welcomed if it is yet another signal that we're intent upon disarming Saddam Hussein."

Here's something to add to the mix. This came to me via a conservative email thread today.

I don't know who Gordon Thomas is, but this is awfully specific information about what the circumstantial evidence is with respect to WMD and where to find them.

> > By Gordon Thomas
> >
> > Saddam's senior bodyguard has fled from Iraq with details of
> > Saddam's secret arsenal.
> >
> > His revelations come the day the UN inspectors report to the
> > Security Council whether they have found a smoking gun that will
> > trigger war.
> >
> > Abu Hamdi Mahmoud has provided a list of sites that so far the UN
> > inspectors have not visited. They include:
> >
> > An underground chemical weapons facility at the southern end of the
Jadray
> >
> > Peninsula in Baghdad.
> >
> > A Scud assembly area near Ramadi. The missiles come from North
> > Korea.
> >
> > Two underground bunkers in Iraq's Western desert. These contain bio
> > weapons.
> >
> > William Tierney, a former UN weapons inspector who has continued to
gather
> >
> > information on Saddam's arsenal, described Mahmoud's information as
> > "the smoking gun. Once the inspectors go to where Mahmoud has
> > pointed them,
> then
> >
> >
> > it's all over for Saddam".
> >
> >
> > Tierney still has high level contacts in Washington that reach into
> > the White House.
> >
> > He said that the information we publish today on Mahmoud's
> > revelations "checks out, absolutely checks out."
> >
> > Tierney believes it is "inevitable" that we will go to war.
> >
> > Globe-Intel has independently obtained documents smuggled out of
> > Iraq
> which
> >
> >
> > show he does have weapons of mass destruction that have eluded
discoveryby
> > UN inspectors.
> >
> > The weapons include motorised underwater mines capable of creeping
> alongthe
> > sea bed and then surfacing beneath a battleship or carrier.
> >
> > Each mine is filled with chemicals that upon explosion can envelop
> > the
> ship
> >
> >
> > in a deadly cloud of poison.
> >
> > The documents show that the mines and other weapons of mass
> > destruction have been secretly developed at sites the UN inspectors
> > have also not
visited.
> >
> >
> > These are:
> >
> > Al-Qaqa's State Establishment. Sixty miles south of Baghdad, it has
> > produced
> >
> > what the documents describe as "self-detonating precise guided
missiles".
> >
> >
> > Near State Establishment. It is on the western side of the
> > Baghdad-Mosul road. It has produced "artillery rounds and other
> > machined metal parts"
> for
> >
> >
> > the mines.
> >
> > The mines have been machine-finished at Hateen State Establishment,
> > to
the
> >
> > north of Baghdad.
> >
> > In the past weeks, they have been moved to Basra - ready to be
> > launched against the naval armada assembling in the Gulf.
> >
> > One document reveals:
> >
> > "The mines use a special camera to distinguish the target above it.
> > The mines then stop under the target. Once in place they produce
> > chemical materials which generates huge amounts of oxygen that
> > guides the mine
> tothe
> > surface. When the amount of oxygen reaches a specific level, the
> pressureof
> > the oxygen triggers the detonator which results in a tremendous
> explosion".
> >
> >
> >
> > The documents reveal that test firings of the mine were carried out
> > on
> Lake
> >
> >
> >
> > Tharthar on June 5 last year. The tests are described as "completely
> > successful".
> >
> > Mahmoud's revelations have also enabled both George Bush and Tony
> > Blair
to
> >
> > take an even stronger stand against anti-war protesters when they
> > meet
in
> >
> > Washington this week.
> >
> > Mahmoud was a member of the elitist unit charged with protecting
Saddam.It
> > is called the Murasiq Qun - the "Inner Circle". He was known as "The
> > Gatekeeper". Mahmoud is the muscular Saddam lookalike who is always
> > photographed standing either behind Saddam when he is seated - or to
> > his left when on the move.
> >
> > He was trained to spot the slightest threat to Saddam. To deal with
> > it,
he
> >
> > had a throwing knife up his right sleeve.
> >
> > "In any threat my first job was to throw myself over Saddam to
> > protect
his
> >
> > body and then use my knife", he has told his Mossad debriefers.
> >
> > Now he's at the top of Saddam's kill list. But there is no way
> > Saddam's
> own
> >
> >
> >
> > assassination unit - the Hamaya Khasa - can get to Mahmoud. He is
> > now protected by a team of Israeli agents.
> >
> > For weeks he was in secret negotiation with a Mossad agent in
> > Baghdad.
> With
> >
> >
> > the promise he could not be charged with any crimes he committed on
behalf
> >
> > of Saddam, and he would be given a new identity - including having
> > his appearance changed by surgery - Mahmoud agreed to desert. Last
> > week he
was
> >
> > being debriefed in a high security base in Israel's Negev Desert.
> > Ariel Sharon, the country's hard-line prime minister has so far only
> > allowed snippets of Mahmoud's sensational claims to be shared with
> > the CIA and
> MI6.
> >
> >
> >
> > But a source close to Sharon says he wants to use the revelations
> > when,
as
> >
> > expected, he returns to power after the country's election
> > (tomorrow, Monday).
> >
> > "Sharon intends to shatter the growing anti-war movement. He plans
> > to
call
> >
> > all those European leaders who are wavering to let them know how
> > Saddam
> has
> >
> >
> >
> > continued to fool Hans Blix and his inspectors," said the source.
> >
> > Mahmoud's revelations include:
> >
> > Locations of five bunkers buried beneath purpose made sand dunes.
> >
> > Stockpiled in the bunkers are warheads identical to the empty shell
cases
> >
> > found two weeks ago by the UN inspectors.
> >
> > Mahmoud has claimed those shells were on their way to be refilled
> > and stored in the bunkers.
> >
> > A portion of a transcript from his debriefing includes:
> >
> > "Saddam's weapons of mass destruction are also concealed in a tunnel
> > complex deep beneath the sewers of Baghdad and in an underground
> > complex in
> Ouja,to
> > the north of Tikrit. The complex was build five years ago with help
> > from Chinese engineers.
> >
> > "The actual entrance to the site is through a house in Tikrit. It is
> > the home of one of Saddam's cousins. The entrance is over half a
> > mile from where the weapons are stored".
> >
> > Mahmoud has also provided the first really detailed insights into
> > how Saddam lives and is protected.
> >
> >
> > Mahmoud says since the Gulf War there have been nine assassination
> attempts
> >
> >
> > on Saddam. The most recent was in February last year.
> >
> > Mahmoud has described how he was selected.
> >
> > "I was on gate duty at one of Saddam's palaces. One night he arrived
> > in
a
> >
> > 10-car convoy. I checked all the vehicles and Saddam stepped out of
> > one
> car
> >
> >
> > and asked why I inspected them all and not just his. I told him I
> > was
not
> >
> > sure in which car he was travelling and that it was in his honour
> > that I checked all the cars. He replied, 'from now on you will be at
> > my side
all
> >
> > the time'. He also doubled my salary".
> >
> > Joining the "Inner Circle", Mahmoud found himself in a world far
> > removed from the life of the starving population of Iraq. He
> > received the finest food and had the best weapons. He had access to
> > top level
intelligence -so
> > that he could help to plan Saddam's protection.
> >
> > In another excerpt from his debriefing, Mahmoud boasts: "I was
> > inside
the
> >
> >
> > innermost circle where Saddam eats and sleeps. I was among the
> > handful
of
> >
> > bodyguards closest to him". The bodyguard has given a rare glimpse
> > of
what
> >
> > life is like with Saddam.
> >
> > "Very few people are allowed close to Saddam. Many of the TV images
> > you
> see
> >
> >
> > of him were taken years ago. Most people now only speak to him over
> > the phone. He usually calls them. If they have to call him back with
> > information he wants, it is passed through his sons, Quasy or Tariq
> > Aziz.
> >
> > "All those close to him have codes, which they use to access the
> > outer circle. But even they can only come so close to Saddam before
> > there is a cut-off point - the Inner Circle. Even Tariq Aziz is
> > checked to see if
> heis
> > carrying weapons. Saddam knows fortunes are being offered to have
> > him assassinated", Mahmoud has revealed.
> >
> > The most protected of all Saddam's palaces is the Qesser al-Quwwa
> > Sitta'shar in Tikrit - close to his birthplace. Mahmoud has
> > described how the
palace
> >
> >
> > has four main entrances - and has the latest Chinese-manufactured
> > surveillance equipment.
> >
> > "There are sensors and matchbox sized cameras everywhere. There are
doors
> >
> > which can only be opened by placing your face on a key pad.
> >
> > "The palace has a number of escape routes that are outside the
> > palace walls. At each escape point there are cars. A car is always
> > parked at each
> exit.No
> > one knows what exit Saddam will use. On the way to one he can change
> > his mind and go to another. I have know him change his mind several
> > times
over
> >
> > thirty feet.
> >
> > "Saddam's own living quarters in the palace are a labyrinth of
> > doors. To even enter the private sanctum requires having the
> > separate codes to
open
> >
> > four doors. On the reverse side of each door is a monitor which
> > shows
the
> >
> > Special Guards on duty who is entering".
> >
> > Saddam's paranoia has increased after his son, Uday, narrowly
> > escaped assassination. He is now wheelchair bound.
> >
> >
> > To avoid even his own bodyguards being tempted to kill him, Saddam
himself
> >
> > is, according to Mahmoud, a walking arsenal.
> >
> > "He has concealed guns all over his body. He also has panic buttons
> > to press if he even suspects somebody is about to attack him", the
> > former
bodyguard
> >
> > has said.
> >
> > Israeli intelligence sources have hinted that part of the deal with
> Mahmoud
> >
> >
> > was to smuggle out his family from Iraq. Mossad have done this
> > before.
At
> >
> > the start of Saddam's reign of terror they persuaded an Iraqi pilot
> > to
fly
> >
> > his Russian Mirage [Mig?]to Israel - after Mossad had spirited his
> > wife
> and
> >
> >
> > children there.

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