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Friday, Dec. 6, 2002

"Iraq has lied before, and they're lying now about whether they possess weapons of mass destruction," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

"President Bush has said Iraq has weapons of mass destruction." British Prime Minister "Tony Blair has said Iraq has weapons of mass destruction." Defense Secretary "Donald Rumsfeld has said Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Richard Butler [the former head of U.N. weapons inspections] has said they do. The United Nations has said they do. The experts have said they do.

'You Can Choose Who to Believe'

"Iraq says they don't. You can choose who you want to believe," he said.

"The president of the United States and the secretary of defense would not assert as plainly and bluntly as they have that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction if it was not true, and if they did not have a solid basis for saying it," Fleischer said.

The recitation was a tart but evasive response to whether Washington would release its intelligence on Iraq's weapons programs if the declaration Baghdad is to deliver to the United Nations over the weekend claimed Iraq was free of chemical and biological agents.

Under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441, adopted unanimously by the panel last month after intense U.S. pressure, Iraqi acts of deception in meeting the mandate to disarm would constitute a material breach of the resolution and could lead to "serious consequences."

Washington, amid broadcast images of Iraqis appearing to cooperate with inspectors, insists any claim by Iraq that it does not have weapons would violate the agreement.

How the United States would react to the assertion, previewed this week by Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tarik Aziz, was still uncertain.

'Dual Use'

Aziz told ABC News on Wednesday that "we don't have weapons of mass destruction. We don't have chemical, biological or nuclear weaponry, but we have equipment which was defined as dual use," which means it might be useful in weapons programs.

Fleischer responded: "That statement is just as false as statements that Iraq made in the late '90s when they said they had no weapons of mass destruction, when it was found they indeed did. There is no basis to that."

He said the U.S. government would look carefully at the documents and assess the contents before indicating its next move.

'Let Events Take Their Course'

"Let's let events take their course. I think that it will be important to note what Saddam Hussein says when he submits this declaration over the course of the weekend," Fleischer said. "We'll see what he says, and we'll also see what he doesn't say when he submits this."

The United States and Britain maintain that Iraq indeed possesses proscribed weaponry and is trying to obtain nuclear weapons. Given its history of aggression against its neighbors and use of chemical weapons against Iran and Kurdish dissidents, Iraq poses a unique threat to the region and to international security, they say.

President Bush has vowed to lead a "coalition of the willing" to forcibly disarm Iraq if Saddam Hussein fails to do so voluntarily.

The U.S. State Department has already begun a campaign to canvass 50 countries about possible contributions to a military effort against Iraq, Fleischer said.

Earlier this week, Turkey gave mixed signals as to whether it would allow U.S. forces to use its territory for staging attacks on Iraq in the event of war. Saudi Arabia has done likewise.

Troops Flow Into the Gulf

Meanwhile, U.S. troops and materiel continue to flow into the Persian Gulf. On Thursday, the carrier Harry S Truman and its battle group left Norfolk, Va., on its way to the gulf for a six-month deployment. U.S. troops in the region were also gearing up for exercises.

Bush, when asked Thursday how likely was war against Iraq and what would trigger it, replied:

Time for War? Bush: 'Ask Saddam'

"That's the question that you should ask to Saddam Hussein. It's his choice to make ... Saddam Hussein must disarm."

There are 17 international weapons inspectors in Iraq. Inspectors returned to the country Nov. 27 after a four-year absence, prompted by Iraq's lack of cooperation and harassment.

About 16 sites have been visited so far, but no evidence of WMD has apparently been found. At one site, however, monitoring equipment installed by inspectors before their 1998 departure was missing.

Dozens more inspectors are expected by the beginning of the year.

So far the Iraqis have appeared to cooperate with the inspections, despite its calling them "spies" for the United States, Britain and Israel.

Bush has said such Iraqi bluster, combined with Iraqi ground fire at U.S. planes enforcing no-fly zones, indicates Hussein is not serious in abandoning an 11-year policy of deceit and in complying fully with U.N. mandates.

Copyright 2002 by United Press International.

All rights reserved.

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