Declaring Iraq's weapons program a "grave and growing" threat to the US, President George W. Bush said yesterday war might be unavoidable if Baghdad refuses to disarm.
"Our country values life and we will never seek war unless it is essential to security and justice," Bush said in his weekly radio address from Kennebunkport, where he is spending the weekend at his family's seaside compound.
Previewing a rare prime-time televised address that he will give tomorrow in which he will explain why the US is prepared to go to war to disarm Baghdad, Bush called Iraqi President Saddam Hussein "a cruel and dangerous man" who had deceived the world about his weapons of mass destruction for 11 years.
"We hope that Iraq complies with the world's demands," he said. "If, however, the Iraqi regime persists in its defiance, the use of force may become unavoidable. Delay, indecision, and inaction are not options for America, because they could lead to massive and sudden horror."
Bush's comments come as Congress is debating resolutions authorizing the use of military force against Iraq if needed to deal with Iraq's suspected weap-ons of mass destruction. At the same time, UN Security Council members are discussing the terms of a new resolution demanding that Baghdad disarm or face the consequences.
On Friday the chief UN weap-ons inspector agreed that new weapons inspections in Iraq should await Security Council action on a tough new resolution setting out terms for the search.
"It would be awkward for us to go in and then find there was a new resolution," said Hans Blix after meeting at the State Department with Secretary of State Colin Powell and other US officials.
Powell welcomed Blix's comments.
"If the inspectors are going to go back in, they have to go back in without any restrictions on what they can do," Powell said.
The US has been pressing for a new resolution that would require Iraq to come up with a full inventory of its weapons program, with a provision for the inspections to be enforced with military force if necessary. But so far, that view has met resistance from Russia and France.
RSS