Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=1-29-03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=DEMOCRATS / IRAQ (S) (CQ)

NUMBER=2-298971

BYLINE=DEBORAH TATE

DATELINE=CAPITOL HILL

CONTENT=

/// EDS: REVISING INTRO TO SAY "MAY BE" NECESSARY ///

INTRO: The U-S Senate's top Democrat says President Bush's State of the Union address did not convince him that war may be necessary to disarm Iraq. Correspondent Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill.

TEXT: Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota is calling on Mr. Bush to make a better case for possible war against Iraq:

/// DASCHLE ACTUALITY ///

The President needs to lay out as clearly and as compellingly as he is able, what imminent threat Iraq poses to the United States, and what we will do as a nation to ensure international cooperation and international support if war becomes an inevitability.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Daschle said he wants assurances that such a war would not jeopardize other U-S priorities, including homeland security.

Speaking on the Senate floor, the Senator also urged Secretary of State Colin Powell to share with the Congress the same intelligence about Iraqi weapons that he will provide to the United Nations next week. (Signed)

NEB/DAT/KBK/FC