Phil Brennan, NewsMax.com
Wednesday, Sept.18, 2002

During a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, in the face of indications Russia might veto any new U.N. action, the president reiterated his demand for a tough U.N. resolution calling on Iraq to conform to a series of U.N. resolutions it has refused to obey.

"For the sake of liberty and justice for all, the United Nations Security Council must act, must act in a way to hold this regime to account, must not be fooled, must be relevant to keep the peace," Bush said.

Speaking later at, a political fund-raiser in Nashville for Republican Senate candidate Lamar Alexander Bush asserted:

"The United States remains strong in our conviction that we must not and will not allow the world's worst leaders to hold the United States and our friends and allies [open to] blackmail or threaten us with the world's worst weapons."

Backing up the president’s unyielding position, , the White House issued a litany of "Saddam Hussein's deception and defiance," that insisted "We've heard 'unconditional' before."

Vice President Dick Cheney chimed in, saying that Saddam's offer was simply "meant to obfuscate and deter action" and gave no indication Iraq was willing to accept what amounts to almost complete disarmament.

"The problem of course is we have heard that sort of thing before," Cheney said, speaking at a reception for Republican Rep. Greg.

The White House statement said the original post-Gulf War resolution, U.N. Security Council Resolution 687, declared that Iraq shall accept weapons inspectors unconditionally but instead it has defied that resolution repeatedly.

"Time after time, 'without conditions' has meant deception, delay and disregard for the United Nations," the statement said.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters that Saddam's word was not to be trusted and charged that a U.N. failure to act on the resolution sought by the United States would allow Iraq to continue pursuing weapons of mass destruction.

"Now is not the time to take off the pressure on Iraq," Fleischer said.

Later, during the Nashville trip the presidential press spokesman told reporters: "If Saddam Hussein's word were to have meaning, he would have disarmed a long time ago," he said. "History has shown that Saddam Hussein's word cannot be taken at face value.

"He has a history of playing 'rope-a-dope' with the world -- all the while he develops a more powerful punch," Fleischer added, referring to prizefighter Muhammad Ali's strategy of leaning back on the ropes and allowing opponent George Foreman to tire himself out repeatedly lashing out at him during a boxing match in the 1970s according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, the mood at the U.N. was less belligerent and the battle was between the U.S. and Russia instead of being between the U.N. and Iraq as the administration wants.

The U.S. and Russia openly disagreed over whether the U.N. should give arms inspectors stronger powers leading some observers to believe that Saddam’s offer to readmit arms inspectors without conditions has driven a wedge between the U.S. and some Security Council members.

According to Reuters, it also highlighted a split between those governments whose main concern is to prevent the U.S. from attacking Iraq, and those who insist that Iraq must be disarmed no matter what it takes.

While the Pentagon continued to prepare for an attack on Iraq, U.N. arms inspectors were getting ready to return there. In anticipation, Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix met top Iraqi arms experts on Tuesday briefly to discuss the inspectors' readmission, Reuters reported, adding that the two sides will meet again in Vienna during the week of Sept. 30.

Exactly how effective the Iraqi offer has been in forestalling U.S. efforts to get U.N. backing for an attack, was illustrated by Russia’s announcement that the Iraqi offer made further action by the Security Council unnecessary at this stage and that the inspectors did not need additional instructions.

"From our standpoint, we don't need any special resolution," Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said. "All of the necessary resolutions are to hand."

"What procedures they should follow, well we know those too. All of these matters were agreed to during the preliminary inspections (in the 1990s)," he added.

In the face of this new indecision President Bush continues to insist that "The Security Council must act, must act in a way to hold this regime to account, must not be fooled, must be relevant to keep the peace." He’s made it plain that he’s determined to effect regime change and wants the Security Council to issue a resolution spelling out Iraq's obligations and stating the consequences for failure to comply.

"The only way to make sure it is not business as usual and to make sure it is not a repeat of the past ... is to put it in the form of a new U.N. resolution," Secretary of State Colin Powell told the news conference in New York.

"It's quite appropriate ... for the Security Council to consider the circumstances under which they might return, what they must be free to do, what additional instructions may be appropriate," Powell added.

The growing rift between the U.S. and other U.N. members was seen in the fact that while Canada backed the U.S. position, Egypt and France leaned toward Russia’s position. And the European Union and the United Nationshave adopted a position somewhere between the two.

Reuters reported that a French diplomatic source said France would be willing to discuss a new Security Council resolution as long as it would not be divisive.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher of Egypt, part of an Arab consensus against military action against Iraq, told Reuters: "Now there is a way to resume the inspections. In light of this, I don't understand the point of going to the Security Council."

Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller, whose country has the presidency of the European Union, has expressed reservations about the Iraqi offer.

If Saddam was attempting to throw a monkey wrench into administration plans for speedy action, it’s obvious he has thus far succeeded. Reuters says his government has claimed the offer had robbed the United States of any reason to wage war. Iraqis in the street, Reuters added, welcomed their government's sudden shift, but some feared it would not stop the United States from attacking

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

George W. Bush
Russia
Saddam Hussein/Iraq
United Nations
War on Terrorism

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