Bush, Blair say Iraq weapons issue must be resolved quickly
Iraq-USA, Politics, 2/1/2003

US President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday that Iraq's Saddam Hussein is not disarming as required by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441, and that, in Bush's words, "this issue will come to a head in a matter of weeks, not months."

Speaking with reporters following their meeting at the White House, the two reiterated the resolution's warnings that Iraq will face serious consequences if it fails to cooperate fully with weapons inspectors and to disarm. "This is test for the international community," Blair said.

"Any attempt to drag the process on for months will be resisted by the United States," Bush added.

"Should the United Nations decide to pass a second resolution, it would be welcomed if it is yet another signal that we're intent upon disarming Saddam Hussein. But 1441 gives us the authority to move without any second resolution," the President said.

Secretary of State Colin Powell will "make a strong case about the danger of an armed Saddam Hussein" next week at the United Nations," Bush said. "He will make it clear that Saddam Hussein is fooling the world, or trying to fool the world. He will make it clear that Saddam is a menace to peace. He will also talk about al Qaeda links, links that really do portend a danger for America and for Great Britain, anybody else who loves freedom."

Having said that force is "my last choice, not my first," Bush called attention to the "cost of inaction. There is a high price to be paid for the civilized world by not enforcing the opinion of the world."

Meantime, US Senator Robert Byrd (Democrat of West Virginia) submitted a resolution to the Senate January 29 that calls on the United States to give "sufficient time" to United Nations weapons inspectors in Iraq to assess the Baghdad regime's compliance with U.N. resolutions that it disarm.

Senate Resolution 28 (S. Res. 28) also bids the U.S. government to get a final United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing war against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Byrd, the president pro tempore emeritus of the Senate, and a former Senate Majority Leader and Senate Minority Leader, introduced Senate Resolution 28 (S. Res. 28) and the proposed resolution was referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for action.

S. Res. 28 says the United Nations weapons inspectors "should be given sufficient time to carry out the inspections, and collect the data, that are necessary for a thorough assessment of the level of compliance by the Government of Iraq with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441."

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