WASHINGTON, 20 September — President George W. Bush yesterday asked Congress for a "blank check" draft resolution on Iraq, giving him explicit authorization to use force to deal with Saddam Hussein even as Baghdad delivered a blistering attack on the US at the United Nations.
Reading extracts of a letter from Saddam, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri declared that Baghdad had no chemical, nuclear or biological weapons. He accused the Bush administration of putting out "lies, distortions, and falsehoods" about Iraq, as a pretext for an attack, whose true aim was to gain control of Middle Eastern oil.
Saddam’s tirade, applauded by diplomats at the UN, drew a predictably withering response from the White House, where officials described the claim that Iraq possessed no weapons of mass destruction as "a fairy tale." The speech presented "nothing new," Ari Fleischer, Bush’s spokesman said. It was a disappointing failure that changed nothing."
More ominously, the Iraqi leader hinted that the return of the UN weapons inspectors might not be quite as "unconditional" as it seemed. Not only should weapons inspections be part of a comprehensive solution to the crisis, including the lifting of UN sanctions; they should also "respect arrangements" on Iraq’s sovereignty and security — a possible veiled warning that some of Saddam’s palaces and other suspect sites could be off limits.
Even before Sabri spoke however, Bush rejected all such terms and left no doubt that Washington was ready to take military action alone or with the support of a few allies like Britain, whatever emerged from the Security Council. "There are no negotiations to be held with Iraq," he said at the start of an Oval Office meeting with Colin Powell, the secretary of state, to review the progress of US efforts to secure a tough new ultimatum from the Security Council imposing an early inspections deadline.
The wording of the parallel endorsement which the administration is seeking from Congress is no less uncompromising.
According to the White House text, the president should be "authorized to use all means that he determines to be appropriate, including force, in order to enforce the UN Security Council resolutions" and to "defend the national security interests of the United States."
America’s top military officers in charge of regional operations gathered in Kuwait for a two-day meeting. The commanders’ conference will be chaired by Gen. Tommy Franks. US and Qatari officials said Franks had left Doha for Kuwait after two days of talks with Qatari leaders. (The Independent)
