Bush Pressures Russia Against Iraq
Fri Sep 20,12:07 PM ET
By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer
URL: story.news.yahoo.com
WASHINGTON (AP) - As Congress promised a quick vote on using military force against Iraq, President Bush ( news - web sites) on Friday pressed a campaign to swing Russia behind the tough American stance against President Saddam Hussein ( news - web sites).
Bush met at the White House with Russia's foreign and defense ministers amid indications there might be room for compromise.
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov was quoted by the ITAR-Tass news agency as saying Russia's position would depend on the information the Bush administration provides about Baghdad's possession of weapons of mass destruction.
However, Russia held to its view that an Iraqi offer to readmit weapons inspectors should be accepted. Information on Iraq's weapons programs could be confirmed or disproved only "on the spot," Ivanov said.
Emerging from the meeting, the defense minister and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov reported no progress in closing the divide between the United States and Russia. However, they said both nations want Iraq to comply with U.N. resolutions regarding weapons of mass destruction.
Bush wants Congress to approve a resolution authorizing the use of military force against Iraq in what would be a show of unity to back the president's effort to gain support on Iraq from Russia and other wary nations.
Bush called Russian President Vladimir Putin ( news - web sites) early Friday, before the meeting with high-level Russian officials here. The White House had no immediate comment on the telephone call.
Both Democratic and Republican leaders welcomed a draft proposal that Bush offered Thursday, in which Congress would authorize the president to "use all means," including military force, to defend U.S. national security interests against the threat posed by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Senate Republican leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said both the House and Senate could vote on the resolution as early as the first week in October before lawmakers go home to campaign for the Nov. 5 election. He said lawmakers would review the president's proposal over the weekend, but "I'm perfectly happy with the language."
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., agreed that "there is absolutely no difference of opinion with regard to the threat that Saddam Hussein poses and the need to address that threat in a multitude of ways." He said Democrats wanted some changes in the wording of the proposal, but were confident a broad consensus could be reached.
Before going to the White House, the diplomats met at the State Department with Secretary of State Colin Powell ( news - web sites) and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld.
At the same time, the White House was releasing a policy document emphasizing a change in U.S. military strategy toward reliance on a first-strike or pre-emptive stance in the post-Cold War era of terrorist threats.
Bush often has talked of this changing national security posture, and "The National Security Strategy of the United States" is a report that the president must, under law, submit to Congress.
"America is now threatened less by conquering states than we are by failing ones," states the document, first reported by The New York Times.
Asked about this Friday, Sen. Charles Grassley ( news, bio, voting record), R-Iowa, voiced some reservations. The Iowa Republican called it "a projection of America's international leadership."
But in an interview on NBC's "Today" program, he said, "The United States should never forecast to the rest of the world that we desire one inch of foreign territory."
Bush initially said he didn't need the approval of Congress to take military action against Iraq. But a show of support from Capitol Hill would be a boost to the president as he presses for a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing force and tries to put together an international coalition to force Iraq to disarm.
Russia and France, which hold veto power as permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, have voiced strong reservations to a new resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq.
Sergei Ivanov revealed the gap with the U.S. position on Thursday when, meeting with Rumsfeld at the Pentagon ( news - web sites), he said he believed U.N. weapons inspectors would succeed in settling the question of whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.
Romanian Defense Minister Ioan Mircea Pascu, who met this week with Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, said his country had offered its cooperation to the United States for overflights and use of its territory.
Romania, which sent troops to Afghanistan ( news - web sites) to help in the U.S. war against terror in the South Asian country, views the Bush administration's stand against Iraq in the same light, Pascu said.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri, meanwhile, repeated to the United Nations ( news - web sites) that Iraq was ready to accept, without conditions, the return of inspectors, and that Iraq had no biological, chemical or nuclear weapons.
Bush belittled Iraqi assertions that it had nothing to hide, saying it was "the same old song and dance we've heard for 11 years." He challenged the Security Council anew to show some "backbone ... or the United States and some of our friends will do so."
The resolution the president presented to Congress would give him broad war-making authority similar to what Congress gave his father, George H.W. Bush, in 1991 before the start of the Gulf War ( news - web sites).
As drafted, it would authorize him to use force unilaterally if he deemed necessary, without waiting for the United Nations to act. |
