Steve Quayle News Alerts

September 20, 2002

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Even as U.N. weapons inspectors set a tentative date of October 15 for their return to Iraq, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States will block any attempt to send the inspectors back without a new mandate from the U.N. Security Council.

Powell said any new U.N. resolution must make clear that any obstruction of the inspections by Baghdad would result in "hard consequences."

"If the U.N. decides to send inspection teams back in under a new mandate -- anytime, any place, anywhere with no hindrances tolerated -- and Iraq tried to frustrate that, the teams come out. We don't play games at palaces. We don't stand around debating or arguing with them," Powell said Thursday before the House International Relations Committee.

Powell made the comments as President Bush asked Congress for the authority to strike Iraq and repeated his vow to take action if the United Nations does not.

"I don't trust Iraq, and neither should the free world. For 11 years, they have deceived the world," Bush told reporters as his draft resolution made the rounds on Capitol Hill -- to a decidedly mixed reception.

Many rank-and-file Democrats questioned what they see as Bush's unilateral approach to dealing with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, with one liberal lawmaker saying the resolution's language could lead to a "potential World War III."

The proposed White House resolution submitted to Congress would give Bush the authority to use "all means that he determines to be appropriate, including force, in order to enforce the United Nations Security Council resolutions, defend the national security interests of the United States against the threat posed by Iraq and restore international peace and security in the region."

The president also said the U.N. Security Council needs to pass a resolution outlining what Iraq must do to comply with earlier resolutions requiring its disarmament.

"For the sake of peace, for the sake of freedom for our country, if the United Nations will not act, the United States and our friends will," Bush said Thursday at the Republican Governors Association.

"We owe it to our children, we owe it to our grandchildren, to make sure that the dictator in Iraq never threatens our country, or our children, or our children's children with the world's worst weapons," he said.

Congress must support Bush resolution, Powell says

With the Bush administration ratcheting up the pressure for action against Iraq, Powell's comments were especially noteworthy. Often considered the least hawkish within the administration, Powell acknowledged he prides himself on being the "reluctant warrior," but he was emphatic that Congress must support the Bush resolution.

"A lukewarm, weak, eviscerated resolution coming out of the Congress would not serve my diplomatic purposes," Powell said.

"War should always be a last resort, but the threat of war has to be there. And when a decision is made to fight a war, it's also well known that I believe in doing it decisively and doing it in a way that achieves a political purpose."

The general, who was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, added: "You never plan a campaign and think it's going to be a cakewalk. If you've got the force, use it."

"If the United Nations will not act, the United States and our friends will," Bush said Thursday.

At the United Nations, a weapons inspections document was circulated during a closed-door Security Council meeting, spelling out that an advance team of U.N. weapons inspectors is to return to Iraq on Oct. 15, barring any further delays.

That will be the first time inspectors will have entered Iraq since December 1998, when they pulled out ahead of joint U.S.-British airstrikes.

Hans Blix, the chief weapons inspector, appeared before the 15-nation Security Council Thursday afternoon to brief them on the latest developments.

Afterward, Blix did not mention the October 15 date but did say he hopes to get an advance team into Iraq "as soon as possible" to review selected sites "we think are interesting."

"We will go there with an advance team, and we will gradually build up the capacity," Blix told reporters.

Asked what sites would be searched first, he said, "I am not going to tell neither you nor the Iraqis."

Earlier, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein issued a statement, which was read by Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri to the U.N. General Assembly, in which he denied Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.

"Iraq is totally clear of all nuclear, chemical and biological weapons," the message said. "If anyone amongst you still worries that the fabrications announced by American officials about Iraq may possibly be true, our country is ready to receive any experts, accompanied by politicians from any one of your countries."

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a congressional committee that Iraq is "jerking the U.N. around."

Powell admitted he was surprised by the quick offer by the Iraqis for the weapons inspectors to return. He said there is no doubt the offer directly stems from Bush's call last week to the U.N. General Assembly last week to enforce its resolutions.

"After the president gave his speech last Thursday," he said, "the phone lines to Baghdad lit up. Lots of people were calling and saying, 'They are serious. It's show time.'"

Powell continued: "For us not to continue that pressure by the threat of force, by the consequences of failure to act on the part of the Iraqi regime, I think it would be very unfortunate."

CNN White House correspondents John King and Kelly Wallace contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/09/20/us.iraq/index.html