The Hindu : We will act even without U.N. backing: Bush

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 08, 2003

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We will act even without U.N. backing: Bush

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

New York March 7. In preparing the nation for war with Iraq that could only be a few days away, the United States President, George W. Bush, has put the United Nations on notice saying that if it comes to it the U.S. will drive the Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, out of power with or without the backing of the United Nations Security Council. "I will not leave the American people at the mercy of the Iraqi dictator and his weapons," Mr. Bush said during a rare prime time press conference at the White House on Thursday night. "...when it comes to our security, if we need to act, we will act. And we really don't need the United Nations approval to do so...When it comes to our security, we really don't need anybody's permission".

And for those who have been saying that the administration will not press for a vote on a second resolution if the outcome was certain to be doomed, Mr. Bush said that he would do so even if the resolution failed. "No matter what the whip count is, we are calling for the vote. We want to see people stand up and say what their opinion is about Saddam Hussein and the utility of the United Nations Security Council.''

"It's time for people to show their cards and let the people know where they stand in relation to Saddam," Mr. Bush said. He left no one in doubt that while he had not decided on whether or not to militarily attack Iraq, war was certainly on the horizon; and if it really came to it he was quite willing and capable to give the go-ahead to American and other allied forces in and around the Persian Gulf.

Mr. Hussein, in the view of Mr. Bush, is a threat to America, his neighbours in West Asia and to the world and hence the international community should not be reluctant to disarm him by force. "If we have to use our troops, we will."

The mood may have been sombre at the White House but Mr. Bush took the opportunity to ratchet up the rhetoric against Mr. Hussein whom he referred to as "this cancer" inside Iraq; in another context Mr. Bush referred to the Iraqi regime as "Saddam and his group of killers".

At the same time, he said he hoped Mr. Hussein would leave the country. "I hear a lot of talk from different nations around where Saddam Hussein might be exiled. That would be fine with me." Before taking questions in the East Room, Mr. Bush read a short statement laying out the case against Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction. "Saddam Hussein is not disarming. This is a fact. If the world fails to confront the threat posed by the Iraqi regime, refusing to use force even as a last resort, free nations would assume immense and unacceptable risks."

The debate at the U.N. starting today could be the "last phase of diplomacy". But he stressed that inaction was a risk that he would not take for the American people. "The risk of doing nothing, the risk of hoping Saddam Hussein changes his mind and becomes a gentle soul, the risk that somehow inaction will make the world safer, is a risk I am not willing to take for the American people.''

According to various reports, Mr. Bush is considering a major address to the nation in which he will once again try to explain the rationale, justification and risks of the military showdown with Iraq. This speech, according to some, could be the "final" warning to Mr. Hussein as well as the "notice" to journalists, U.N. staffers and other humanitarian workers to leave Iraq.

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