The Hindu : Bush doubts Iraq will meet demand

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 14, 2002

International

International

Bush doubts Iraq will meet demand

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

New York sept. 13. One day after he made a strong case against Iraq and placed the immediate onus on the United Nations, the U.S. President, George W Bush, has said that he is `doubtful' that the Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, will meet the demands of the international community. "The reason why I'm doubtful is he's had 11 years to meet the demands and for 11 long years he has basically told the United Nations and the world he doesn't care,'' Mr. Bush remarked prior to a meeting with leaders of Central Africa today.

"But nevertheless I made the decision to move forward to work with the world community and I hope that the world community knows that we're extremely serious about what I said yesterday and we expect quick resolution to the issue. And that's starting with quick action on a Resolution.'' Mr. Bush had a dig at the Democratic law-makers who wanted a United Nations Resolution prior to vote on a Congressional Resolution that the administration is seeking. "Democrats waiting for the U.N. to act?'' asked Mr. Bush. "I can't imagine an elected...member of the United States Senate or the House of Representatives saying `I think I am going to wait for the United Nations to make a decision','' he remarked. The Democratic law-makers have argued that while the President has taken the right first step of bringing in the United Nations, there is no reason to rush on a Congressional vote for a war on Iraq.

"The President is doing this the right way...this should be something done in a very deliberate manner. We should not try to rush history here, '' said the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joseph Biden, this morning. And the Senate Majority leader, Thomas Daschle, said that he had not seen enough evidence to justify going to war against Iraq. The task of going about the job of building support and consensus in the United States has been left to the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, who has already had discussions with some Foreign Ministers on the subject

Today, Mr. Powell is due to meet the Foreign Ministers of China and France. Mr. Powell has made the point that at this time the President has not made a decision on a military strike against Iraq. "...he (Mr. Bush) is not declaring war on anybody at this point,'' Mr. Powell said.

But the Bush administration is making it known that it is not interested in a long-drawn out time-frame for a new United Nations Security Council Resolution. "There has to be deadlines this time. In the absence of deadlines, the Iraqis will strong us out, will try to negotiate away or simply ignore the resolution,'' Mr. Powell remarked.

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