Bush to U.N.: 'Show some backbone'
CAMP DAVID, Md. (APOnline) ” President Bush made plain
Saturday that the United States is willing to take Iraq on alone if
the United Nations fails to "show some backbone" by confronting
Saddam Hussein. "Enough is enough," Bush said. "The U.N. will
either be able to function as a peacekeeping body as we head into
the 21st century, or it will be irrelevant. And that's what we're
about to find out," Bush said Saturday. He added: "Make no
mistake about it. If we have to deal with the problem, we'll deal
with it."
Vice President Dick Cheney echoed Bush. "We'd prefer to do this
on an international basis with the approval and cooperation and
support of other nations," he said in a CNN interview. "This is
deemed to be such an important issue and such an important
problem that we will address (it) by ourselves if we have to."
Bush spoke alongside Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, the
second foreign leader in two weeks to visit Bush at Camp David
for strategy sessions on Iraq.
Berlusconi, who has laid out a case in support of ousting the Iraqi
president, has insisted that any action be taken with the U.N's
approval.
He joined Bush in warning that the U.N.'s credibility was on the
line. "The United Nations cannot continue to see its image
undermined and its resolutions flouted," Berlusconi said through a
translator. Italy will play a key role through its ties to European
Union countries and through its "special friendship" with Russia,
he said.
Repeating the case he outlined at the United Nations on Thursday,
Bush said Saddam had "stiffed the world 16 times" by defying
U.N. resolutions on Iraq's weapons programs.
Asked why Iraq deserved another chance to comply, Bush said the
standoff was as much a test of the United Nations as of Saddam.
"This is the chance for the United Nations to show some backbone
and resolve as we confront the true challenges of the 21st
century," Bush said.
The administration is seeking a new U.N. resolution giving Iraq a
firm deadline, just weeks way, to disarm or face dire, but thus far
unspecified, consequences. Discussions at the United Nations
continue into this week on a range of issues, chiefly what action to
take if Saddam continues to reject such an arrangement.
James Baker, a secretary of state under Bush's father, said the
resolution must endorse "all necessary means" to back up the
deadline. Weapons inspectors "should be backed up with a United
Nations security force on Iraqi soil, preferably under U.S.
command, with the means (and under clear orders) to thwart all
attempts by Iraq to block or delay the inspectors," Baker wrote in
Sunday's Washington Post.
Baker said the United States should go it alone, if necessary.
"Acting alone or with a few key allies will make the undertaking
more costly ” politically, economically and in terms of other
U.S. foreign policy interests," he said. "But sadly, doing nothing is
potentially the most costly strategy of all."
Russian President Vladimir Putin has cited Bush's reasoning in
arguing that Russia has the right to take action against Chechen
rebels he calls terrorists in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.
Bush sidestepped a question about whether he thought that action
would be justified. But he said he had "made it very clear to the
Georgian government that we expected them to rout out the al-
Qaeda-type terrorists" in the region, and said the United States is
training Georgian troops for that purpose.
Moreover, he said he had told Putin to "give the Georgians a
chance to achieve a common objective," one also important to
Russia and the United States ” capturing al-Qaeda members and
bringing them to justice.
After talking to reporters, Bush and Berlusconi met for two hours.
Bush also devoted his weekly radio address to Iraq, seeking to
sway public opinion as he lobbies Congress and foreign leaders.
"The issue is straightforward," Bush said in the radio address,
broadcast before Berlusconi's arrival at Camp David.
"We must choose between a world of fear, or a world of progress.
We must stand up for our security and for the demands of human
dignity. By heritage and choice, the United States will make that
stand. The world community must do so as well."
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