US President George Bush has promised fresh proof of Iraq’s ”utter contempt” for peaceful disarmament and vowed to use overwhelming force to triumph in any war against Saddam Hussein.
In a pugnacious State of the Union address, Bush worked to break mounting doubts at home about his ability to steady the US economy’s wobbly recovery and ease global worries that he is charging heedlessly into conflict with Baghdad.
Bush said US Secretary of State Colin Powell would go before the UN Security Council February 5 to detail evidence of Iraq’s illegal weapons programs, its efforts to thwart UN inspectors, and its ties to terrorists — including Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network, the group behind the September 11, 2001 attacks.
”We will consult, but let there be no misunderstanding: If Saddam Hussein does not fully disarm for the safety of our people, and for the peace of the world, we will lead a coalition to disarm him,” the president warned.
Tackling head-on the argument — espoused by France, Russia, Germany and others — that UN inspectors must have more time to scour Iraq for banned weapons, Bush said Saddam’s strategies were making a mockery of those efforts.
”The dictator of Iraq is not disarming. To the contrary, he is deceiving,” said the US leader, who itemised Saddam’s alleged offenses and said any US-led war would oust him from power. Iraqi agents are hiding documents, sanitising inspections sites, monitoring the UN inspectors, intimidating witnesses, impersonating scientists the inspectors interview, he charged.
”Year after year, Saddam Hussein has gone to elaborate lengths, spent enormous sums, taken great risks to build and keep weapons of mass destruction. But why? The only possible explanation, the only possible use he could have for those weapons, is to dominate, intimidate or attack,” said Bush.
Reaching beyond a House of Representatives packed with congressmen and Senators, the president cautioned the tens of thousands of US troops gathering in the Gulf that ”some crucial hours may lie ahead.”
Bush also vowed to press on with efforts ”to seek peace between a secure Israel and a democratic Palestine.”
He also worked to polish the US image abroad with an Aids-fighting project worth $15-billion and laboured to shore up his political weak flank by assuring skeptical voters he will bring them prosperity.
”After recession, terrorist attacks, corporate scandals and stock market declines our economy is recovering — yet it is not growing fast enough, or strongly enough,” he said.
”We must have an economy that grows fast enough to employ every man and woman who seeks a job.”
Bush also called for accelerating tax-rate cuts approved in 2001 as part of his first 10-year, $1,35-trillion tax cut, moving them up to this year from their scheduled implementation of 2004 and 2006.
”If this tax relief is good for Americans three, or five, or seven years from now, it is even better for Americans today.”
Bush’s ten-year, $674-billion plan has met unexpectedly strong opposition from Democrats, who charge it will do little to stimulate the economy in the short run and is overly tilted towards the wealthiest Americans.
And Bush is eager not to repeat the experience of his father, who came off the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq a hugely popular wartime president only to lose his bid at a second term over his perceived aloofness to economic suffering.
Clouding the president’s all-but announced 2004 reelection campaign, opinion surveys have shown a steadily eroding public confidence in his ability to restore growth at a time when unemployment stubbornly sits at 6%.
Looking overseas, Bush pushed the lawmakers to add $10-billion to an ”emergency plan” to combat the spread of Aids in the hardest-hit areas of the world.
And though bin Laden remains at large, Bush cited progress in the ”war on terrorism.”
A seat near First Lady Laura Bush was kept vacant to honour some 3 000 victims of the September 11 attacks.
Though he declared the spectre of ”outlaw regimes” such as Iraq, North Korea and Iran arming terrorists with weapons of mass destruction to be the greatest danger to world peace, Bush did not reprise last year’s label of those regimes as an ”axis of evil.”
And he specifically pointed to a secret partnership between Iraq and al-Qaeda as evidence that Saddam’s regime cannot be contained.
”Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and statements by people now in custody, reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al-Qaeda,” he said.
”Secretly, and without fingerprints, he could provide one of his hidden weapons to terrorists, or help them develop their own,” said Bush. – Sapa-AFP