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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (283088)	8/2/2002 3:35:22 AM
From: asenna1	Respond to of 769670

Iraq Invites Chief UN Weapons Inspector to Baghdad Last Updated: August 01, 2002 07:27 PM ET By Evelyn Leopold UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iraq on Thursday invited the chief U.N. weapons inspector to Baghdad for technical talks, as a possible step toward the resumption of arms inspections, according to a letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The letter from Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri, obtained by Reuters, said chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix and his experts were welcome to discuss outstanding disarmament issues "to establish a solid basis for the next stage of monitoring and inspection activities and to move forward to that stage." Blix, the executive chairman of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, known as UNMOVIC, was not immediately available for comment. The inspectors left Iraq in December 1998 on the eve of a U.S.-British bombing campaign to punish Baghdad for not cooperating with the arms experts. Accounting for Iraq's dangerous weapons is key to suspending U.N. sanctions, imposed when Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990. With Washington threatening to attack Iraq, some U.N. Security Council members had been promoting further talks in hopes the return of the inspectors would delay any U.S. attempt to topple President Saddam Hussein. One key reason the Bush administration has given for a "regime change" is its suspicion that Iraq has restarted its weapons of mass destruction programs. Sabri and Annan last met in Vienna on July 4-5, the third time this year, to talk about the return of inspectors but did not reach an agreement. Annan made clear the United Nations was open to technical talks but that he would not meet Sabri again on this issue unless Baghdad showed willingness for the return of the inspectors. Blix at the Vienna meeting spoke to Iraq's arms experts at length but said later he could not review in detail outstanding disarmament issues until the inspectors returned and evaluated what had happened in the ensuing 3 1/2 years. Instead he said he wanted to talk about "practical issues" on the inspectors' facilities and movement. But Sabri, according to an unofficial translation of the letter, said the meeting should also follow up on a "comprehensive review to the disarmament file" and an assessment of how far Iraq had met its obligations. However, Sabri said the meeting of Blix and Iraqi experts did "not carry a premature judgement on what had been achieved on disarmament issues." He said the talks should aim for "common ground on the scientific and practical criteria to treat and resolve what UNMOVIC might see as the pending issues in the disarmament stage." reuters.com

To: stockman_scott who wrote (283088)	8/2/2002 3:37:53 AM
From: asenna1	Respond to of 769670

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." ---Theodore Roosevelt

To: stockman_scott who wrote (283088)	8/2/2002 3:43:41 AM
From: asenna1	Respond to of 769670

Blair 'opposes plan to invade Iraq' Patrick Wintour, chief political correspondent Friday August 2, 2002 The Guardian Tony Blair has "tremendous concerns" about President George Bush's plans to mount a major invasion of Iraq in a bid to topple Saddam Hussein, King Abdullah of Jordan claimed yesterday. The king met the British prime minister for talks at Downing Street on Monday and claimed he was convinced that Mr Blair opposed an invasion. He then spoke to US newspapers on Wednesday but Downing Street yesterday refused to confirm or deny the impression left on him. King Abdullah, who is close to western leaders but opposed to an invasion, claimed that Mr Blair concurs with most international leaders in believing that the US plan to oust Saddam at all costs is a mistake. In public Mr Blair has been careful not to distance himself from the Bush administration, and there have been reports that he has given his personal go-ahead for an invasion, so long as it has the clear legal sanction from the UN. A determination not to lose the special relationship with Washington has meant that British administrations have always been obsessed with insuring that no distance in policy is ever publicly exposed for fear it will harm Britain's private influence. "Everybody is saying this is a bad idea," King Abdullah said. "If it seems America says we want to hit Baghdad, that's not what Jordanians think, or the British, the French, the Russians, the Chinese and everybody else." He added that the reluctance of the British government and other key US allies to confront Mr Bush may have led US officials to believe there is little opposition to the war. He also hinted strongly that American allies - including the British - had suddenly realised Mr Bush was planning an early invasion of Iraq. "All of a sudden this thing is moving to the horizon much closer than we believed," he said. Privately British officials hint that there is no serious prospect of an invasion until next spring. King Abdullah claimed at his press conference that Mr Blair is a close partner of Mr Bush on many issues but on Iraq he had "tremendous concerns about how this would unravel". Echoing the British Foreign Office view, King Abdullah said he rejected claims by some US officials that a democratic Iraq would increase the chances of peace between Israelis and Palestinians. "Our concern is exactly the opposite - that a miscalculation in Iraq would throw the whole area into turmoil." The shadow defence secretary Bernard Jenkins said: "It is wrong to assume that the US is not continuing to consult with her allies and countries in the region, or that any decision has been made about any military operation." He urged Britain and the US to remain shoulder-to-shoulder. The Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell said that the British government must communicate any doubts about military action to the Bush administration. "Britain's duty in this matter is to be a candid friend." guardian.co.uk

To: stockman_scott who wrote (283088)	8/2/2002 9:16:41 AM
From: PROLIFE	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

let a terrorist sponsored by Iraq drop a load of bio agent on your families heads and let's see how fast you, like clintoon, will jump into the trenches and die fighting them..

To: stockman_scott who wrote (283088)	8/2/2002 11:39:03 AM
From: Karen Lawrence	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

King Abdullah tried reasoning with the unreasonable Bush Bush differs with King Abdullah on attacking Iraq, strategy for Middle East peace Thu Aug 1, 8:35 PM ET By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush ( news - web sites) and a key Arab ally, Jordan's King Abdullah, found themselves in disagreement over a possible U.S. attack to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ( news - web sites) and over the pace of American peacemaking in the Middle East. Reuters Slideshow: Mideast Conflict Bush 'Furious' Over Bombing (AP Video) The king soft-pedaled his opposition Thursday to a potential U.S. military strike against Baghdad. But Bush, in an Oval Office picture-taking session with the monarch, made clear he had not changed his mind about considering "all tools" to bring about regime change in Iraq. Abdullah responded mildly: "I found from Day 1 with the president he understands the bigger picture." On the peacemaking front, like most Arab and European leaders, the Jordanian king is appealing to Bush to put heat on Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza and to move more aggressively to set up the Palestinian state Bush has said he envisions for the Middle East. A day after terrorists struck Israel again — killing seven people including five Americans at Hebrew University in Jerusalem — Bush insisted that security against terror must be in place first. He said his goal was "a security force in the Palestinian territory that will be able to help deal with those who want to destroy the prospects for peace." Visibly moved by the university bombing, Bush said: "I am just as angry as Israel is. I am furious," However, he said, "Even though I am mad, I still think peace is possible." Bush said he was seeking the cooperation of Arab governments in tracking down the perpetrators of the bombing, and White House spokesman Ari Fleischer ( news - web sites) said the United States was in contact with the American embassy in Tel Aviv in an effort to develop investigative leads. The FBI ( news - web sites) has opened an investigation, in cooperation with Israeli authorities, a senior administration official said Thursday night. However, Bush refrained from saying whether the murder of Americans would take his war against terror to a new level. "We are responding all across the globe to murders of Americans," he said. "We responded in Afghanistan ( news - web sites) to murders. We responded in the Philippines. We're responding by working with our American friends, and Israel, of course, to track these people down," he said. Asked on NBC's "Nightly News" if there could be a U.S. reprisal for the attack, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said it was "very unlikely in my opinion. I just can't imagine it." For his part, Abdullah stressed the need to move ahead in peacemaking. "You have really given us hope that once and for all we will be able to move forward as Arabs and Israelis to be able to live in peace and harmony and have a tremendous future," the king said. In an obvious thrust at Yasser Arafat ( news - web sites), the Palestinian leader whose ouster Bush already has demanded, the president said security arrangements must protect people and not the "whims" of one man. Later, Bush met for a half-hour with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, joining a meeting Peres held with Condoleezza Rice ( news - web sites), the president's national security adviser. "Basically, we see eye-to-eye," Peres said afterward. "To get rid of terror at large and suicide bombers particularly." Then, after talking to Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Peres said "deep in their heart," most people in the Middle East think Saddam Hussein is a danger. "He kills right and left," Peres said. "Who needs him?" Jordan's opposition to a conflict with Saddam Hussein is rooted in a strong economic relationship with Jordan's bigger and more powerful neighbor. Iraq import about dlrs 700 worth of Jordanian goods and provides Jordan's entire daily requirement of 90,000 barrels of oil at preferential rates