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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnM who wrote (44221)	9/15/2002 7:13:32 PM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

White House Steps Up Rhetoric President Calls on U.N. to 'Show Some Backbone' washingtonpost.com By Mike Allen Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, September 15, 2002; Page A23 President Bush stripped the diplomatic trimmings from his challenge to the United Nations yesterday and made clear that the only consensus he will accept on Iraq is swift and broad cooperation. "This is a chance for the United Nations to show some backbone and resolve," Bush said during a Camp David appearance with an ally, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. "But make no mistake about it: If we have to deal with the problem, we'll deal with it." Bush's words were consistent with his rhetorical run-up to the airstrikes on Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks. Then he began ratcheting up warnings until he told the Taliban in a radio address the day before bombers were launched that "time is running out." "Saddam Hussein has defied the United Nations 16 times," Bush said as he stood next to Berlusconi, each wearing a jacket but no tie. "Not once, not twice -- 16 times he has defied the U.N. The U.N. has told him after the Gulf War what to do, what the world expected, and 16 times he's defied it. And enough is enough. The U.N. will either be able to function as a peacekeeping body as we head into the 21st century, or it will be irrelevant. And that's what we're about to find out." The Italian leader said the U.N. "cannot continue to see its image undermined" by having its resolutions flouted, including its 1991 demands on Hussein. "I consider the flag of the United States is not only a flag of a country, but is a universal message of freedom and democracy," Berlusconi said. Their two-hour meeting followed Bush's Camp David strategy session last Saturday with another ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair. White House officials said the U.N. must act within weeks to satisfy Bush, and must force dramatic and immediate concessions from Hussein. Vice President Cheney set a high bar for Hussein in an interview broadcast yesterday, declaring that it will not "be enough here to simply invite inspectors back in." Cheney, appearing on CNN's "Novak, Hunt & Shields" in an interview taped Friday afternoon at his residence, pointed to intelligence reports that Hussein has built "significant additional capability" to his arsenal since inspections four years ago. "He's going to have to produce it, and he's going to have to destroy it," Cheney said. The military brass has voiced internal resistance to invading Iraq, largely because of concerns about the strain of a long occupation. Cheney signaled a potentially important concession by saying the administration might increase force size in the budget to be proposed in February. The Army, which has had heavy deployments in the Balkans for seven years, would likely be the biggest beneficiary of additions to the ranks. "I don't think we've reached that conclusion yet," Cheney said. Bush's radio address thanked Italy, Britain, Spain and Poland for reaching "the same conclusion I have -- that Saddam Hussein has made the case against himself." The administration also counts Australia, Denmark, France, Israel and Norway as supporters. White House officials said that even as the U.N. debate continues, Bush will increase pressure on Congress to support formally the use of military force against Iraq. Bush said in the address that he welcomes congressional hearings about Hussein. "Congress must make it unmistakably clear that when it comes to confronting the growing danger posed by Iraq's efforts to develop or acquire weapons of mass destruction, the status quo is totally unacceptable," he said. Cheney said that waiting to hold the debate until next year, which some Democrats have suggested because of November's elections, "would be a very foolish idea."