Steve Quayle News Alerts

Oct. 9, 2002

Saddam might take the extreme step of assisting terrorists with weapons of mass destruction as "his last chance to exact vengeance by taking a large number of victims with him," - from letter by CIA Director George Tenet

(CBS) Congress was moving closer to granting President Bush the power he wants to combat the threat of Saddam Hussein's Iraq, but not before raising questions on the dangers of taking on Iraq militarily without the support of an international coalition.

CIA Director George Tenet described one of those dangers, telling lawmakers that Saddam might turn to his biological and chemical weapons for terrorist purposes if provoked by an imminent U.S.-led attack.

Saddam might take the extreme step of assisting terrorists with weapons of mass destruction as "his last chance to exact vengeance by taking a large number of victims with him," Tenet wrote in a letter.

After a full day of speeches on Tuesday, the House was on course to vote by Thursday on a resolution giving the president broad authority to use military force to dismantle Saddam's weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Bush urged Congress to give him that authority, telling a Tennessee audience Tuesday that "the full force and fury of the United States military will be unleashed" should he decide to use force against Iraq.

But hopes that the Senate would join the House on Thursday in a dramatic show of unity faded when Sen. Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, made clear that he would use parliamentary delaying tactics to push debate into next week.

Byrd, an unyielding defender of the Senate's constitutional rights, said the resolution was a "blank check" that "cedes the decision-making power of the Congress under the Constitution to declare war." He suggested the issue be put off until after the November election.

While that's unlikely to happen, the opening day of debate Tuesday made clear that it will be difficult for Mr. Bush to win the unanimity he wants from Congress as he tries to persuade the U.N. Security Council to approve a forceful new resolution compelling Iraq to disarm or face the consequences.

"We must give the United Nations the backbone it needs to enforce its own resolutions," said House Speaker Dennis Hastert. "We must not let evil triumph, we must do something."

But Rep. Tom Lantos of California, the top Democrat on the House International Relations Committee and a supporter of the resolution, asked if in the end Congress "will demonstrate to the world this nation's steadfast resolve or our lingering doubts."

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, an Ohio Democrat who has led opposition to authorizing war on Iraq, said he expected more than 100 House members to vote against the resolution. Many of the opponents warned that an attack on Iraq before tougher U.N. inspections are allowed to work and with few or no allies could come at a high cost to this country.

"There is a far higher risk of fueling resentment in Arab and Muslim nations and swelling the ranks of the anti-U.S. terrorists," said Democratic Rep. Tom Allen of Maine, a co-sponsor of an alternative resolution requiring the president to return to Congress for warmaking authority after U.N. efforts to disarm Saddam prove futile.

At the Pentagon, Defense Intelligence Agency official John Yurechko told reporters that Saddam is actively making biological and chemical weapons and trying to hide that fact from the world. He is "taking steps to conceal sensitive equipment and documentation in anticipation of new inspections," Yurechko said.

Saddam has successfully thwarted U.S. and international efforts to find out what his banned weapons programs are doing, especially since U.N. inspectors left in 1998, Yurechko said Tuesday.

Iraq's "denial and deception" have prevented intelligence agencies "from producing the kinds of smoking guns and smoking-gun photographs ... demanded by those who are skeptical of Iraqi violations of U.N. resolutions," Yurechko said.

After Mr. Bush's speech Monday on Iraq, the White House released satellite photos of two such sites. An analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency identified two more Tuesday while briefing reporters on Saddam's attempts to conceal his programs.

All four sites — the Al Furat centrifuge development center, the Nassr/Taji Steel Fabrication and Military Production Facility, the Al Qa'im uranium ore refinery and the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center — were bombed, either in the Gulf War or in the four days of U.S. and British airstrikes in 1998 that began after U.N. inspectors withdrew.

Rebuilding has taken place at each site.

Saddam has a propensity for dressing up U.S. attacks on weapons sites as attacks on civilians, Yurechko said. In one case, he ordered the top of a mosque removed to make it seem like it was hit during a U.S. airstrike.

Iraq is also preparing its weapons sites for either new inspections or U.S. attack, moving equipment around. Some biological weapons labs are believed to be housed on large trucks that move around the country.

Mr. Bush has stressed that Saddam is aggressively expanding his biological and chemical stockpiles and is trying to become a nuclear power. But Tenet, in a letter released by the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Iraq "for now appears to be drawing a line short of conducting terrorist attacks with conventional or chemical or biological weapons."

He went on to say that the likelihood Saddam would use weapons of mass destruction "for blackmail, deterrence, or otherwise, grows as his arsenal builds" and that he "probably would become much less constrained in adopting terrorist action" if he was certain of a U.S.-led attack on his country.

Even absent U.S. military action, Tenet wrote in the letter released by the Senate Intelligence Committee, "Iraq's increasing support to extremist Palestinians, coupled with growing indications of a relationship with al Qaeda, suggest that Baghdad's links to terrorists will increase."

How U.S. Allies And Others Line Up:

* Britain remains the only U.S. ally that would support unilateral U.S. military action against Iraq. But opposition continues popping up, with the head of the nation's third-biggest political party saying U.S. policy on Iraq is "potential new imperialism."
* Canada is ready to support military action against Iraq. Canadian leaders have balked at unilateral action against Saddam Hussein. But they're expressing full support for the kind of tough U.N. resolution the United States wants.
* A Polish security official won't say explicitly whether the nation will support U.S. action in Iraq. But he says Poland is a "very steadfast ally."
* Italy's prime minister, the most recent foreign leader to visit with President Bush, doesn't believe the U.S. should act on its own. Silvio Berlusconi says the response must come "within the framework of the United Nations."
* Russia and China are also pushing for a political settlement to the standoff over weapons inspections.
* The European Union and ten Asian nations are calling for U.N. backing for any military action against Iraq and demanding that any U.S.-led action comply with international law. The nations include Japan, China and Singapore.
* Spain's prime minister has said he'd support a war if diplomatic efforts don't pay off.
* Saudi Arabia says it might let its desert bases be used as a launching point for a U.S. military campaign, as long as the attack has U.N. approval.
* Egypt had already said it would support a U.S. strike on Iraq if the Security Council approves it.
* Other Arab nations are pushing Iraq to comply with the U.N. resolutions, and avoid a showdown with Washington. They say a war would destabilize the region.
* Israel, like the U.S., says it's skeptical of Iraq's announcement. Israel has warned that if it is attacked by Iraq in response to a U.S. strike, Israel will retaliate. During the Gulf War, the Israelis refrained from retaliating for scud missile attacks, because the U.S. thought that would threaten its support from Arab countries.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/03/attack/main524191.shtml