Bush says he wants Congress to authorize 'all means, including force' against Iraq. Bush's war: "unjustified, unwarranted and illegal." Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio
MATT KELLEY, Associated Press Writer Thursday, September 19, 2002
(09-19) 11:16 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --
President Bush asked Congress Thursday for authority to use "all means he determines to be appropriate, including force" to disarm and overthrow Iraq's Saddam Hussein, saying the United States will take action on its own if the U.N. Security Council balks.
The president sent to Capitol Hill his proposed wording for a resolution that would give him such broad war-making authority. He told reporters in the Oval Office that the power to use force was all-important. "If you want to keep the peace, you've got to have the authorization to use force," he said.
The president immediately began trying to build support for the proposed resolution that he wants Congress to approve before lawmakers go home to campaign for the Nov. 5 elections.
A letter to Congress from White House counsel Al Gonzales and congressional liaison Nicholas Calio, hoping for "early agreement," accompanied the president's proposed wording. It was submitted to Congress as a "White House discussion draft."
Essentially a two-page indictment of Saddam's regime, including a reference by name to its assassination plot against Bush's father, the resolution concludes:
"The president is authorized to use all means that he determines to be appropriate, including force, in order to enforce the United Nations Security Council resolutions (on disarmament), defend the national security interests of the United States against the threat posed by Iraq, and restore international peace and security in the region."
Meantime, Saddam told the United Nations that Iraq is free of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
"Our country is ready to receive any scientific experts, accompanied by politicians you choose to represent any one of your countries, to tell us which places and scientific installations they would wish to see," Foreign Minister Naji Sabri told the world body, quoting the Iraqi president.
At the White House, nine Democratic and Republican lawmakers emerged from a morning audience with Bush predicting bipartisan support for the commander in chief. "I think we have no choice but to have the strongest support possible for the president's efforts here," said Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash.
But the president also stressed he is not on the verge of declaring war, said Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y.
"The most important word I heard inside today from the president was the word 'if.' He made it repeatedly clear that this resolution is not intended as a declaration of war, it is not intended as an immediate prior step to aggression," said McHugh.
Bush spoke to reporters after meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell on his difficult diplomatic effort to draft a U.N. Security Council resolution against Iraq. The administration has to overcome strong reservations by Russia and France, which have veto power in the Security Council.
"The United Nations Security Council must work with the United States and other concerned parties to send a clear message that we expect Saddam to disarm," Bush said.
"And if the United Nations Security Council won't deal with the problem, the United States and some of our friends will," he declared.
By telephone, he thanked leaders of Japan, Poland and the Philippines for standing with the United States.
The gap between Russian and American viewpoints was underlined Thursday in comments by Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov. Upon arriving at the Pentagon to meet with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Ivanov said he believed U.N. weapons inspectors will succeed in settling the question of whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.
"Being experienced in that sort of business -- both Americans and Russians -- I think we can easily establish (whether) there exist or not weapons of mass destruction technology," Ivanov said. Rumsfeld, who stood by silently as Ivanov spoke, has said repeatedly that inspections cannot be 100 percent reliable because Iraq has a long history of deceiving inspectors.
And Bush lashed out at the notion that Iraq is in talks with the United Nations about resuming inspections: "There are no negotiations to be held with Iraq. ... I don't trust Iraq and neither should the free world."
He declined to name any of the allies he's counting on for support in the event of war, saying only that "time will tell."
In what some at the Pentagon interpret as Iraqi precautions against a possible surprise U.S. attack, Saddam in recent weeks has moved some military forces into civilian areas, officials said. They said it did not appear to be the kind of large-scale movement of forces that would indicate Saddam expects an imminent American-led attack, but rather a precaution against a short-notice assault.
As Bush spoke, White House advisers were behind the scenes telephoning congressional leaders with notice that Bush's proposal was on its way to Capitol Hill.
Following his meeting with Powell, Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Bush lobbied the small group of lawmakers -- something Rice, too, planned to do with other groups later Thursday.
Bush said he wanted the legislature to give him not only the power to make war with Saddam, but also an explicit restatement of U.S. policy that Saddam must be overthrown. The wording he asked for expressed support "for efforts to remove from power the current Iraqi regime and promote the emergence of a democratic government."
On Capitol Hill Thursday, a group of House Democrats condemned the move toward military action, with Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, calling it "unjustified, unwarranted and illegal."
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., said she was introducing a resolution with 20 cosponsors calling on the United States to work with the U.N. to carry out weapons inspections in Iraq. "A preemptive, unilateral first strike would set a terrible international precedent," she said. |
