opus512
09-07-02, 09:10 PM
http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/09/06/bush.iraq.message/index.html
Bush spoke Friday morning with the leaders of three of the five permanent Security Council members -- French President Jacques Chirac, Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Russian President Vladimir Putin. All three have expressed doubts about the need for military action against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and any one of them could veto Security Council resolutions on Iraq.
"He told these leaders that he valued their opinion," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters Friday. "The president stressed that Saddam Hussein is a threat and that the United States was going to work together with the world to make the world more peaceful, and we welcome their role and their involvement."
Bush's calls Friday were meant to "begin this process of collaboration -- to do exactly what the world would expect and exactly what the world deserves -- which is a free exchange of information, a discussion about the consequences and the risks," Fleischer said.
He would not characterize the leaders' responses except to say they all expressed their appreciation to Bush for consulting them. But in Moscow, Russian officials said Putin told Bush he has "serious doubts" about the legal or political basis for military action against Iraq.
Asked if the White House had new evidence of Iraqi weapons development, Fleischer said plenty of evidence exists already.
"Adding additional information is like adding a foot to Mount Everest," he said. "There already is a mountain of evidence that shows that Saddam Hussein, since the Gulf War and prior to the Gulf War, has sought to develop weapons for the purpose of using them. Now, as we saw on September 11th, when our enemies have weapons, they do not hesitate to use them against the American people."
The White House also is seeking a congressional endorsement of any military action, preferably before Congress adjourns in October for midterm elections. In a CNN interview Friday, House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt said Bush needs to build international support before making any military move against Iraq.
"Part of doing this the right way and the successful way is to put together a coalition," said Gephardt, D-Missouri. "Sometimes that takes diplomatic efforts as well as military efforts to get that done."
Both Gephardt and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, were in New York for a special joint meeting of Congress marking the coming anniversary of last year's attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Hastert said the United States needs to make sure such attacks do "not happen again in this country."
"We know the history of Hussein, and we know he is a bad actor," Hastert said. "We know he's had weapons of mass destruction and used them against Iranians and used them against the Kurds in his own country, and he would use them against anybody else, too."
Ok, this started out as laughing at Jr's veiled attempt to pretend he cares about what the rest of the world thinks, but then I got to the bold part of the quote in the article.
There is a mountain of evidence. We just can't see it because it would compromise national security. He has sought to develop weapons, of 'mass destruction' I'm taking it. Of course he has, we gave them to him!
We gave Iraq, in the 1970's and 80's, though the CIA, biological weapon stock. The nerve gas used on his own people most likely came from us in the first place!
No one seem's to be mentioning this, and it's really starting to irritate me.
But back to topic. Bush has no international support for attacking Iraq. There is no support to be had. Of course England is with us, that's to be expected, we would do the same for them. And Australia really doesn't matter. Nice jumping off point for the region, but seriously, whether they help us or not will not determine the outcome of the action, let's be realistic about that.
And Gephardt and Hastert are just kissing election year @ss, doing some down home chest thumping, yeah, we're against evil and bad people! Duh! Like someone is going to say they aren't :rolleyes:
Hey, let's put together another coalition, it worked so well in taking out Hussein the first time! :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
Bush spoke Friday morning with the leaders of three of the five permanent Security Council members -- French President Jacques Chirac, Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Russian President Vladimir Putin. All three have expressed doubts about the need for military action against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and any one of them could veto Security Council resolutions on Iraq.
"He told these leaders that he valued their opinion," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters Friday. "The president stressed that Saddam Hussein is a threat and that the United States was going to work together with the world to make the world more peaceful, and we welcome their role and their involvement."
Bush's calls Friday were meant to "begin this process of collaboration -- to do exactly what the world would expect and exactly what the world deserves -- which is a free exchange of information, a discussion about the consequences and the risks," Fleischer said.
He would not characterize the leaders' responses except to say they all expressed their appreciation to Bush for consulting them. But in Moscow, Russian officials said Putin told Bush he has "serious doubts" about the legal or political basis for military action against Iraq.
Asked if the White House had new evidence of Iraqi weapons development, Fleischer said plenty of evidence exists already.
"Adding additional information is like adding a foot to Mount Everest," he said. "There already is a mountain of evidence that shows that Saddam Hussein, since the Gulf War and prior to the Gulf War, has sought to develop weapons for the purpose of using them. Now, as we saw on September 11th, when our enemies have weapons, they do not hesitate to use them against the American people."
The White House also is seeking a congressional endorsement of any military action, preferably before Congress adjourns in October for midterm elections. In a CNN interview Friday, House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt said Bush needs to build international support before making any military move against Iraq.
"Part of doing this the right way and the successful way is to put together a coalition," said Gephardt, D-Missouri. "Sometimes that takes diplomatic efforts as well as military efforts to get that done."
Both Gephardt and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, were in New York for a special joint meeting of Congress marking the coming anniversary of last year's attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Hastert said the United States needs to make sure such attacks do "not happen again in this country."
"We know the history of Hussein, and we know he is a bad actor," Hastert said. "We know he's had weapons of mass destruction and used them against Iranians and used them against the Kurds in his own country, and he would use them against anybody else, too."
Ok, this started out as laughing at Jr's veiled attempt to pretend he cares about what the rest of the world thinks, but then I got to the bold part of the quote in the article.
There is a mountain of evidence. We just can't see it because it would compromise national security. He has sought to develop weapons, of 'mass destruction' I'm taking it. Of course he has, we gave them to him!
We gave Iraq, in the 1970's and 80's, though the CIA, biological weapon stock. The nerve gas used on his own people most likely came from us in the first place!
No one seem's to be mentioning this, and it's really starting to irritate me.
But back to topic. Bush has no international support for attacking Iraq. There is no support to be had. Of course England is with us, that's to be expected, we would do the same for them. And Australia really doesn't matter. Nice jumping off point for the region, but seriously, whether they help us or not will not determine the outcome of the action, let's be realistic about that.
And Gephardt and Hastert are just kissing election year @ss, doing some down home chest thumping, yeah, we're against evil and bad people! Duh! Like someone is going to say they aren't :rolleyes:
Hey, let's put together another coalition, it worked so well in taking out Hussein the first time! :rolleyes: :rolleyes: