Steve Quayle News Alerts

February 5, 2003

UNITED NATIONS — The United States, arguing that Saddam Hussein has done nothing but repeatedly defy U.N. disarmament orders, began laying out its case at the Security Council Wednesday for military action against Iraq.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, backed by top CIA officials, began presenting evidence at 10:35 a.m. EST that the United States says proves Saddam is concealing weapons of mass destruction.

"Resolution 1441 gave Iraq one last chance, one last chance to come into compliance, or face serious consequences," Powell told the Security Council. "What I can share with you is deeply troubling....

"Saddam Hussein and his regime have made no effort -- no effort -- to disarm."

He said Resolution 1441 "was designed to be an early test," and that Iraq has failed it.

"By this standard, I believe that Iraq is now in further material breach of its obligations. I believe this conclusion is irrefutable and undeniable," and he said the U.N. places itself in "danger of irrelevance" if it doesn't respond.

"How much longer," Powell asked, "are we willing to put up with Iraq's noncompliance before we as a council -- we as the United Nations -- say 'enough, enough'?"

The secretary of state played recorded excerpts of conversations between Iraqi officials and field agents -- as recently as last week -- showing that the Iraqis have been scrambling to evacuate any trace of prohibited arms before U.N. weapons inspectors find them. One conversation was recorded after weapons inspectors found 12 empty chemical warheads on Jan. 16.

Powell also said sources have told the United States that the Iraqis have gotten rid of hard drives containing vital information regarding Baghdad's banned weapons program, we well as the weapons themselves.

"Every statement I make today is backed up by sources -- solid sources," Powell said. "These are not assertions. Instead of cooperating, Saddam Hussein and his regime are busy doing all they possibly can to ensure inspectors succeed in finding absolutely nothing."

The 12,000-page arms declaration Iraq submitted to the United Nations on Dec. 7 was supposed to outline all weapons programs run by Iraq.

But based on recent evidence, Powell said, "Iraq never had any intention of complying with this council’s mandate." Iraq wanted to use it to "overwhelm" the world about "useless information so that we would not have time to pursue Iraq’s prohibited weapons."

And while Iraq tells the world it is doing everything it can to comply with international inspections, U.N. inspectors are under constant surveillance by "an army" of Iraqis, Powell said.

Saddam has a "higher committee for monitoring the inspection teams," which is headed by Iraq’s vice president and includes officials such as Saddam’s son and top adviser, who also serves as the contact person for U.N. weapons inspectors.

A recent report from the British government said Iraqi intelligence had bugged inspectors' telephones and hotel and conference rooms.

Powell was also planning to argue that Iraq has links to Al Qaeda and other terror groups, although Saddam just this week denied such relationships.

CIA Director George J. Tenet and his chief deputy, John McLaughlin accompanied Powell but did not plan to provide any testimony. Tenet's presence was needed because Powell's remarks "will be lightly based on intelligence and [Tenet] wants to be there to support what Powell's going to say," officials told Fox News.

Asked Tuesday if he is confident he can make his case, Powell told Fox News: "We'll see."

Asked for his reaction to Saddam's claims he has no weapons of mass destruction, Powell simply said: "Prove it."

Asked on Tuesday to respond to reports that Saddam has said Iraq has no ties to Al Qaeda, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld responded: "And Abraham Lincoln was short."

One official told Fox News that Powell’s presentation would make a comprehensive but simple case -- that "the Iraqis aren't cooperating ... and have no intention of cooperating."

"If I had this evidence before a jury that was an unbiased jury, I could get a conviction," said Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "But we're talking about a different stage. [Powell] has a tougher jury and there is a lot of skepticism that exists in the international community."

Biden joined more than a dozen other Democratic and Republican lawmakers Wednesday morning for breakfast with President Bush, who sketched out his case against Saddam hours before Powell's presentation. Lawmakers in both parties have accused the White House of failing to keep them informed of developments on Iraq.

"This issue will come to a head in a matter of weeks, not months," President Bush said last week.

The intelligence on Iraq's weapons programs is considered solid; the information on Baghdad's contacts with Al Qaeda is less so but still suspicious, officials said. The information centers on the movements of a lieutenant of Usama bin Laden, Abu Musab Zarqawi, who traveled to Baghdad last summer for medical treatment and is now believed to be working with a Kurdish Islamic extremist group in northern Iraq, officials said.

The presentation also will refer to an Iraqi defector who has told U.S. intelligence about mobile chemical labs, a senior administration official said.

German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger, whose government currently is president of the Security Council and is strongly opposed to war, said the foreign ministers at Powell's briefing might not be able to respond immediately.

Pleuger said Powell's audiovisual presentation "might take more or less roughly an hour." It will be followed by two hours for comments from the other 14 members and Iraqi Ambassador Mohammed Al-Douri, who was invited to speak even though Iraq is not a council member.

But the Iraqi government newspaper al-Iraq said Powell "will not come up with anything new." In an editorial, it likened the Bush administration to a "raging bull that can't see what's happening around it. The world won't compromise on the lies of Washington."

While the United States legal system traditionally calls for prosecutors to present evidence "to prove guilt above a reasonable doubt," Rumsfeld said Tuesday that in an age where weapons of mass destruction can wipe out an entire population, "our goal has to be to take all reasonable steps to protect the lives of our citizens -- that is a quite different task."

He said the issue is not whether weapons inspectors can find weapons that Iraq is hiding.

"What is being tested is, whether or not, after more than a decade, Saddam Hussein will finally cooperate with the U.N. resolution requiring his cooperation," Rumsfeld said. "Regrettably, the answer is more apparent every day as he continues to deceive and deny" the resolution.

Meanwhile, the White House continues to lobby world leaders to build a coalition against Saddam. The Bush administration is trying its hardest to enlist support from Russia, France and other governments hesitant to go to war with Iraq, as well as from the American public.

Arriving in New York on Tuesday, Powell met first with Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, whose government prefers a diplomatic approach to Iraq. They discussed Iraq and North Korea, which has moved to resume nuclear weapons development, as well as Taiwan and human rights, a U.S. official said.

After his Security Council presentation, Powell scheduled a series of meetings with the foreign ministers of Russia, Chile, Cameroon, Mexico, Angola, Pakistan, France, Spain and Bulgaria.

Fox News' Jim Angle, Eric Shawn and Liza Porteus and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,77624,00.html