WASHINGTON, 26 August — Two leading US senators and a key ally of President George W. Bush warned him against any unilateral action against Iraq. The senators urged Bush to seek approval from allies and from Congress before using military force to depose Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
"I would want to know what the president really has in mind," Sen. Arlen Spector told CBS’s Face the Nation.
"I believe that before we act in a military way, there has to be a clear and present danger," the Republican senator said, recalling congressional and citizen opposition to the war in Vietnam.
The senators joined a growing chorus opposed to Bush’s call to use military force to depose Saddam, given the rise in opposition in the Arab world, from US allies, in Congress and from security experts.
"Our intelligence is not as good as we would like it to be in Iraq," said Sen. Bob Graham, chairman of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee. He went on to say that the United States has other priorities, such as tracking down terrorists, like Osama Bin Laden, who has so far avoided capture.
Former Secretary of State James Baker, a key political ally of Bush, urged the president not to take unilateral military action against Saddam. He urged Washington to focus on a new Security Council resolution insisting on intrusive UN weapons inspections and authorizing all necessary means to ensure them.
In a swipe at the hawkish ‘go-it-alone’ school led by the likes of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon adviser Richard Perle, the secretary of state under President Bush senior underlines the domestic and international risks "if we end up going it alone or with only one or two other countries."
"Although the United States could certainly succeed, we should try our best not to have to go it alone and the president should reject the advice of those who counsel doing so," Baker wrote in an opinion piece published by The New York Times.
The senators also urged Bush to release intelligence information that is likely to prove that Saddam is developing banned chemical, biological and nuclear weapons in an effort to build his case for an invasion of Iraq before Congress, the US public and US allies.
In Damascus, Syria’s Information Minister Adnan Omran blasted yesterday US plans to strike its eastern neighbor Iraq on the "absurd" basis that Baghdad wants to develop weapons of mass destruction, and warned that US threats targeted the "whole Arab world".
In another development, chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said yesterday no new Security Council resolution is needed to press Iraq to allow in UN weapons inspectors.
