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Hussein preparing for war
24/09/2002 08:51 - (SA)
Washington - Exiled opponents to Saddam Hussein said that the Iraqi president had ordered the digging of trenches outside Baghdad and assumed direct control of his Republican Guards in preparation for a US attack.
Britain accused Iraq on Monday of actively seeking nuclear, germ and chemical arms and President George W Bush pressed the United Nations to act before Hussein became a threat to civilisation.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan questioned the legality of any US military strike without Security Council approval, and Bush's Democratic rival in the 2000 White House race, former Vice President Al Gore, said Bush had embarked on a dangerous course that could derail America's war on terror.
The US State Department said Iraq had shown its insincerity in comments over the past few days. "Recent Iraqi statements are just further proof that Iraq is already backtracking on its commitments to have inspections without conditions," State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher said.
Bush, speaking at an Army National Guard hangar in Trenton, New Jersey, pounded his theme that Iraq is a test for the authority of the United Nations.
"I want to see strong resolutions coming out of that UN... a resolution which will allow freedom-loving countries to disarm Saddam Hussein before he threatens his neighbourhood, before he threatens freedom, before he threatens America and before he threatens civilisation," Bush said.
'The problem has grown worse'
Bush's leading ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, told his cabinet there was no doubt Iraq was continuing to build weapons of mass destruction.
Blair, meeting his ministers to persuade some sceptical members that Saddam posed a serious threat to world security, showed them an intelligence dossier that will be made public on Tuesday ahead of a full parliamentary debate.
"The prime minister said the issue of Iraq and weapons of mass destruction is real, serious and the problem has grown worse in four years without inspections," a spokesperson for Blair said.
"There is no doubt... that Saddam is continuing with his WMD (weapons of mass destruction) program. We are not talking about historic leftovers but an ongoing, continuing programme," Blair was quoted as saying.
Annan on Monday dismissed reports of a rift with the United States over Iraq, but questioned the Bush administration's doctrine of possible pre-emptive military action.
Annan said military strikes were permitted in self-defence when a country was attacked, but "when it comes to the broader peace and security issues, the Security Council will have to pronounce itself".
Gore, who narrowly lost the 2000 presidential election to Bush, said in a speech in San Francisco that the Republican administration risked undermining international rule of law by setting its sights on "regime change" in Baghdad.
He lashed out at Bush support for pre-emptive strikes, calling it "a go it alone, cowboy-style" approach to foreign policy.
Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham voiced similar concerns. "While first strike is a legitimate international law doctrine, I don't believe that it is consistent with the United Nations. It's not consistent with the world order that we've been trying to build for the last 70 years through the UN," he told reporters.
- Reuters
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