Sat, Sep 14, 2002 page1

• Iraq defiant as Bush demands UN ultimatum

  DEADLINE Many wavering nations supported the US president's move to seek UN assent for any move against Iraq, but Baghdad seemed in no mood to compromise

  • REUTERS AND AFP
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  US President George W. Bush piled pressure on Iraq yesterday with demands for a short UN deadline to obey resolutions to disarm or face the consequences.

  Baghdad rejected his speech to the UN on Thursday threatening action as "lies and falsification," but many of Bush's potential allies welcomed his attempt to create an international consensus for action.

  Bush said on Thursday that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had engaged in a "decade of defiance" of post-Gulf War UN demands by developing weapons of mass destruction. He urged the UN to enforce its own resolutions and said if it did not, "action will be unavoidable."

  Yesterday he told reporters in New York, at the UN: "I am highly doubtful that he'll meet our demands. I hope he does, but I'm highly doubtful."

  Asked how quickly he wanted the UN to act, Bush said: "There will be deadlines within the resolution ... We're talking days and weeks, not months and years."

  A number of potential allies who have cautioned against unilateral action welcomed Bush's apparent willingness to pursue diplomatic pressure for now.

  The EU praised him for engaging with the UN, and urged Baghdad to obey UN resolutions.

  The EU's executive, the European Commission, said Bush had sent "an important, strong and clear signal" outlining why the world should be concerned about Iraq and making clear that the authority of the UN was on the line.

  "The United States' strong engagement with the United Nations will make it easier to find a common line between the United States and the European Union," it said.

  "Iraq must now take all steps as required by the UN Security Council resolutions."

  China -- whose acquiescence Bush will need if he wants the UN Security Council to endorse threats to use force -- promised to play an "active and constructive role" in seeking a political solution.

  While not explicitly offering Bush support, it struck a more receptive attitude to action on Iraq than 10 years ago, when it abstained from almost all Security Council votes in the run-up to the 1991 Gulf War.

  In Germany, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told parliament he was glad Bush was working with the UN and that the goal of getting Baghdad to readmit arms inspectors was back in focus rather than the US' stated aim of unseating Saddam.

  But Schroeder went on to add that "my arguments against a military intervention still stand and that is why under my leadership Germany will not take part in a military intervention."

  Turkey, likely to be a key staging post for a US attack on Iraq but already beset by political turmoil and fearful of economic damage, was clearly pinning its hopes on diplomacy.

  Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit on Thursday described the prospect of an Iraqi war as a sword hanging over Turkey -- and President Ahmet Necdet Sezer yesterday welcomed "with pleasure" the US administration's will to work with the UN.

  Meanwhile Britain's Ministry of Defense dismissed as "highly speculative" a report in the Daily Telegraph newspaper that said British troops would begin deploying to Kuwait within two weeks to prepare to support a possible US-led attack.

  The paper said 6,000 troops would begin their biggest British-based exercise since 1998 tomorrow, involving the ferrying of tonnes of equipment to a military port -- but insisted that the exercise was not related to the Iraq crisis.

  In the Arab world friends and foes were quick to contest Bush's real motives.

  Analysts and politicians across the Middle East accused Bush of laying out a harsh indictment of Saddam but failing to present the world with hard evidence to support his argument against Iraq.

  "America's attack on Iraq is premeditated. This [speech] is a ruse and an attempt to gain time in order to prepare for an attack under the UN umbrella," Syrian political analyst Imad Shueibi said.

  Syria, which is also on a US list of countries backing "terrorism," blasted Bush for targeting Iraq and ignoring Israel's aggression and occupation of Arab lands.

  "The American speech to the world's body focused on one and only one issue ... It forgot the fundamental issue in our region, which is the continued Israeli aggression caused by Israel's occupation of Arab land," said the official al-Ba'ath daily.

  Many Arabs echoed the fury out of Baghdad, accusing the US of bias toward Israel while many said Washington's position has not changed and military action was unavoidable.

  "The speech of the US president ... is a step towards a new Security Council resolution that opens the door for American military action," Jordan's Ad-Dustour newspaper said.

  The Jordan Times said Bush failed "yet again" to show solid evidence against Iraq but that the ball was now in Baghdad's court to avert war.

  Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was among the few who had hoped that diplomacy still had a chance. He welcomed the role that the US had assigned to the UN.

  "That UN role should lead to a way out that helps all parties to avoid negative complications," Mubarak said in comments to Egypt's Middle East News Agency.

  He also called on Iraq to accept the immediate return of weapons inspectors "to avoid an escalation of the situation and ... dangerous consequences ... ."
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