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Bush says war not imminent
08/10/2002 09:24 - (SA)
Washington - United States President George W Bush says the threat of a deadly attack by Iraq on America is growing, but insists military action is not imminent.
He also has pledged to build an international coalition against President Saddam Hussein if he defied demands to disarm.
In a speech in Cincinnati on Monday evening aimed at Americans who were uneasy at the prospect of war, Bush said the threat from the Iraqi president's suspected weapons of mass destruction grew more dangerous with time.
"If we have to act, we will take every precaution that is possible. We will plan carefully.
"We will act with the full power of the United States military. We will act with allies at our side. And we will prevail," said Bush.
He spoke as the chief US ally, Britain, tried to forge a tough, new United Nations resolution on weapons inspections with France, a key security council member, which would be backed by the threat of force.
Iraq a unique threat, says Bush
The United States and Britain accuse Iraq of developing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and are pushing for a UN security council resolution to allow intrusive inspections of suspected Iraqi arms sites.
Iraq has agreed to allow arms inspectors to return after a four-year hiatus, but under previous, less rigorous UN rules, in a move seen as intended to divide the international community and security council.
In his address, broadcast on cable news outlets, but not by the main networks, Bush said Iraq's history and technological capabilities make it a "unique" threat.
He said the willingness of lawmakers to give him authority to use force would "tell the United Nations, and all nations, that America... is determined to make the demands of the civilized world mean something."
"Approving this resolution does not mean that military action is imminent or unavoidable," he added.
He said Iraq had ballistic missiles with a likely range of hundreds of kilometres, far enough to strike Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey and other nations in a region where more than 135 000 American civilians and military service members lived and worked.
France offers another solution
Bush, who accused Hussein of backing international terrorism, said there had been high-level contacts for more than a decade between Iraq and al-Qaeda, the militant Islamic movement accused of the September 11 attacks on America.
France, like fellow security council members Russia and China, opposes a US draft UN resolution authorising the use of force if Iraq fails to co-operate with arms inspectors, but has proposed that military action could be evoked in a second resolution.
After meeting in Paris on Monday, the French and British foreign ministers indicated that differences about a new resolution had not yet been sorted out.
"We have a close position and we have the same goals," said French foreign minister Dominique de Villepin. "We want to go on working together at the security council and hope to achieve very quickly a new resolution."
British foreign secretary Jack Straw, who stopped in Paris on his way to Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait and Iran to gather support for the US-British line, said London would not necessarily be against a two-resolution approach.
'Lies and fabrications'
Iraq has said it is incapable of producing nuclear, chemical or biological weapons after seven years of UN inspections in the 1990s and rejected as "lies, and fabrications" a report from British Prime Minister Tony Blair that Hussein could deploy chemical or biological weapons within 45 minutes.
The United Nations said in Vienna its arms inspectors remained ready to return to Baghdad at short notice to resume their work, despite the delay caused by the discussions on a new UN resolution.
Iraq, meanwhile, is mounting its own diplomatic offensive. Foreign minister Naji Sabri held talks on Monday in the United Arab Emirates, the latest stop in a Gulf Arab tour to drum up regional support against a possible US attack, and deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz left to visit Syria and Lebanon.
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