30 January 2003
Bush: Diplomatic Efforts on Iraq Will Continue, but Not Indefinitely
("A matter of weeks, not months," president says) (1220)
By Wendy S. Ross
Washington File White House Correspondent
Washington -- Diplomatic efforts to find a peaceful solution to the
problem of Iraq's failure to get rid of its weapons of mass
destruction will not continue indefinitely, President Bush noted
January 30 following a morning meeting in the Oval Office with Italy's
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
"This is a matter of weeks not months," Bush told reporters. "For the
sake of peace, this issue must be resolved," the president said,
adding that he hoped "the pressure of the free world" would convince
Saddam Hussein to relinquish power voluntarily.
"And should he choose to leave the country, along with other henchmen
who have tortured the Iraqi people, we will welcome that, of course,"
Bush said. But Bush made clear that the U.S. would continue to insist
that Iraq disarm, regardless of who governs the nation.
White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters at his midday
briefing that "it would be a very desirable event if Saddam Hussein
were to leave Iraq. That would be one way for peace to be preserved,
and the president hopes that can happen. ... and the most likely way
to make it happen is to continue growing pressure on Saddam Hussein."
Bush "is clearly sending a message to Saddam Hussein, and to our
friends and allies, that there is no point in repeating the mistakes
that have been made before, which allow Saddam Hussein to bob and
weave, to hide and to dodge, to cheat and retreat," Fleischer said.
Bush and the Italian prime minister "agreed about the importance of
disarming Saddam Hussein," Fleischer said. The president "emphasized
once again that he hopes to do this peacefully, and the two agreed
about the importance of continued consultation and cooperation,"
Fleischer said.
Bush "is very busy talking to leaders throughout Europe and throughout
the world about the situation in Iraq and how this can be resolved so
Saddam Hussein does disarm," Fleischer said. He noted that Bush
earlier in the day spoke by phone with Portugal's Prime Minister Jose
Manuel Durão Barroso, thanking him for his public support on Iraq, and
with Sweden's Prime Minister Goran Persson.
In his phone calls and meetings with world leaders, President Bush "is
emphasizing how important it is to let diplomacy run its course to the
greatest degree that it can (to) solve this problem," Fleischer said.
"The president is serious about consultation. The president is serious
about diplomacy. He hopes it will work, and he wants to give it time
to work."
"But diplomacy never works if it's diplomacy forever in the face of a
threat like Saddam Hussein. And that's a lesson the world has seen
over the last 10 years; unlimited diplomacy leads to unlimited running
around by Saddam Hussein to continue to develop his weapons,"
Fleischer said.
Bush also met with Saudi Arabia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince
Saud al-Faisal, January 30.
Following their discussion, the prince told reporters in the White
House driveway that he and President Bush "remain committed to seeking
a way for a diplomatic solution to the situation in Iraq. We remain
hopeful that there will be a way to do so."
"We remain confident that the president is going to give the issue the
full weight of his judgment and to give it the full weight of his
wisdom," the prince said. "And he has told us before, and he continues
to say so, that conflict is not an aim or an objective, but in the
absence of the implementation of the United Nations resolution, that
that is what makes them pursue the aim of military action.
"Hopefully, the Iraqi administration will see its way through to work
closer and more usefully with the inspectors to allow for a resolution
of this without need to resort to war."
Prince Saud said also that he was "very much impressed by what the
president said about the need to move on the Middle East question as
quickly as possible."
Meanwhile January 30, across the Potomac river from the White House,
in Arlington, Virginia, Vice President Dick Cheney discussed Iraq in a
speech to the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action
Conference.
"We will not permit a brutal dictator with ties to terror and a record
of reckless aggression to dominate the Middle East and threaten the
United States of America," Cheney said.
"Saddam Hussein's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction poses a grave
danger, not only to his neighbors, but also to the United States. His
regime aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda. He
could decide secretly to provide weapons of mass destruction to
terrorists for use against us," Cheney said.
"As the president said on Tuesday night, it would take just one vial,
one canister, one crate to bring a day of horror to our nation unlike
any we have ever known. That is why confronting the threat posed by
Iraq is not a distraction from the war on terror, it is absolutely
crucial to winning the war on terror."
The evening of January 30, Bush was to meet with the commanders of all
the major U.S. military commands at a White House reception.
And on January 31, President Bush will welcome British Prime Minister
Tony Blair to Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland.
"The prime minister was President Bush's first guest to Camp David two
years ago, and tomorrow's meeting is another in a continuous series of
consultations on a variety of important issues, including Iraq,"
Fleischer said.
He said he expects the two leaders to discuss "ways that we can
together, in concert with friends and allies, fight the spread of
weapons of mass destruction. The president values Prime Minister
Blair's leadership and will listen carefully to what the prime
minister has to say."
In a related development, a letter published January 30 in a number of
newspapers including The Wall Street Journal and the Times of London,
the leaders of Britain, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Hungary, the Czech
Republic, Poland and Denmark issued a call for "unwavering
determination and firm international cohesion on the part of all
countries for whom freedom is precious."
Fleischer said Bush "is very grateful to these eight European leaders
and to others who are supportive of his efforts to make certain that
Saddam Hussein is disarmed."
State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher told journalists that the
statement signed by the eight European leaders is "a clear, firm and
unequivocal message, as they say, that Baghdad must be disarmed of its
weapons of mass destruction, and that the Security Council's
credibility will suffer if resolutions are not complied with. Those
are sentiments that we fully agree with...it's also proof that many
like-minded nations see Iraq as a clear threat to peace and security.
And I think, finally, the statement keeps the focus and puts the focus
very squarely where it belongs, and that is on Iraq."
Fleischer reported also that Albanian officials released a letter from
Prime Minister Fatos Nano to Bush pledging the country's "total and
unconditional" support in the war on terrorism.
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
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