The Ottawa Citizen September 7, 2002
Blair, Bush make case for war on Iraq: Russia, France, China still won't back attack; satellites show 'troubling' construction in Iraq
 Tuwaitha Nuclear Center, Iraq |
By Janice Tibbetts
WASHINGTON -- U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair meet today to develop an international pitch for deposing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein after Mr. Bush's initial efforts with key allies yesterday apparently made little headway.
Mr. Bush spoke to French President Jacques Chirac, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin for 10 minutes each, the first step in a public relations offensive Mr. Bush said will take place over the coming weeks.
The support of the three countries is crucial because they are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and have veto power over any resolution on Iraq that Mr. Bush takes to the UN.
"It's important for the president to continue to make the case about why the world will be better off without Saddam Hussein," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. "And as the president indicated, he has not made a determination about the best way to achieve our mission of removing the threat that Saddam Hussein poses." The Bush administration contends Iraq is building weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, which Saddam Hussein intends to use against the U.S. and to secure domination of the oil-rich Middle East.
But there were indications that the three leaders consulted by phone yesterday were not persuaded to change their opposition to pre-emptive military action against Iraq.
Mr. Putin told Mr. Bush he has "deep doubts" about the justification for a military attack, said a statement from the Kremlin press service.
France and China have said any military action against Iraq should be decided by the United Nations. A spokeswoman for Mr. Chirac said his position had not changed.
The increased push for international support came as one of the UN weapons inspectors banned by Baghdad said that satellite images of Iraq show unexplained construction at sites the team used to visit in its search for evidence that Saddam Hussein was trying to develop nuclear arms.
Jacques Baute did not offer details about the construction or the sites, and he and other UN inspections experts emphasized that no conclusions on whether Iraq had restarted nuclear weapons programs could be deduced from the images.
However, the White House expressed concern, and independent experts said the images were a worrisome indication of how little control the outside world has over potentially lethal developments in Iraq since Baghdad banned outside inspectors four years ago.
Mr. Fleischer said the images could indicate the Iraqi president "may seek to develop nuclear weapons and may be making progress." He called the agency's comments "troubling."
Independent Iraq analysts said while the existence of such images was common U.S. government knowledge, the images would be welcomed by the Bush administration as it seeks to wear down worldwide resistance to the idea of toppling Saddam Hussein by force.
"I think that this is basically a preview of ... the type of information that the U.S. government is going to be using to make the case for doing something about Iraq," said John Pike, of the non-profit group GlobalSecurity.org, based in Alexandria, Virginia.
Mr. Blair has been Mr. Bush's main ally in the push against Saddam Hussein, despite stiff opposition in Britain and the rest of Europe.
Mr. Blair, who meets with Mr. Bush at the Camp David retreat today, answered affirmatively when asked in an interview with the BBC whether Britain would be prepared to "pay the blood price" to secure its "special relationship" with the U.S.
"Yes," replied Mr. Blair, in an interview to be aired in full tomorrow. "What is important, though, is that at moments of crisis they don't need to know simply that you are giving general expressions of support and sympathy. That is easy, frankly. They need to know, 'Are you prepared to commit, are you prepared to be there when the shooting starts?' "
But Mr. Blair can't help Mr. Bush back home, where congressional leaders are demanding the president offer more evidence to support his claim that Iraq presents an immediate threat to the country before they can agree to any attack.
House of Representatives Majority leader Dick Armey, a Texas Republican, said it would require "a very deep and rigorous examination of facts" as Congress considers a resolution backing possible military action against Saddam Hussein.
Senate Majority leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat said he did not expect Congress to be rushed to judgment on the issue, and said the administration has "not indicated that they have a particular time frame in mind."
Mr. Bush meets Monday in Detroit with Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who said this week he has yet to see evidence to justify Canadian support for a military campaign against Iraq.
Mr. Fleischer said yesterday that securing the border is the top agenda item for the meeting. But Mr. Bush said this week he intends to raise the Iraq issue.
Copyright 2002 The Ottawa Citizen
