WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush said Saturday that Congress must make it "unmistakably clear" that Iraq's efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction are unacceptable as lawmakers are set to hold hearings next week on the threat Saddam Hussein's government poses to the international community.
"The issue is straightforward: 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," Bush told the nation during his weekly radio address.
"Congress must make it unmistakably clear that when it comes to confronting the growing danger posed by Iraq's efforts to develop or acquire weapons of mass destruction, the status quo is totally unacceptable," Bush said.
The president made his comments two days after arguing his case before the United Nations General Assembly for possible military action against Iraq. At issue is the Arab nation's failure to allow U.N. inspectors into the country to investigate its weapons program. The United States wants evidence that would confirm reports that Saddam has produced biological and chemical weapons, and is possibly months away from developing a nuclear warhead.
"Today Saddam Hussein has the scientists and infrastructure for a nuclear weapons program, and has illicitly sought to purchase the equipment needed to enrich uranium for a nuclear weapon. Should his regime acquire fissile material, it would be able to build a nuclear weapon within a year," Bush said.
Bush argued that Saddam has broken every pledge he has made to the United Nations and the world since the rollback of his invasion into Kuwait in 1991. The United Nations Security Council has passed 16 resolutions designed to ensure that Iraq does not pose a threat to international peace and security, Bush said.
"Saddam Hussein has violated every one of these 16 resolutions -- not once, but many times," Bush said.
"Saddam Hussein's defiance has confronted the United Nations with a
difficult and defining moment: Are Security Council resolutions to be honored and enforced, or cast aside without consequence? Will the United Nations serve the purposes of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?" Bush asked.
Bush's assertion that Saddam's continued defiance should be met with military force has drawn sharp criticism from Capitol Hill and the international community, particularly Arab nations like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, which has denied the United States use of its air bases. It is believed that should the United States act unilaterally, Saddam could unleash his weaponry on nearby Israel and destabilize the Middle East.
After his U.N. address, most international leaders agreed that something had to be done about the situation in Iraq. French President Jacques Chirac proposed that the United Nations pass a resolution demanding the re-entry of inspectors into Iraq, and failing that, the Security Council explore what action should be taken.
On Saturday, Bush was set to meet with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at Camp David, Md., in an effort to build support for a possible military strike.
"The Italian prime minister joins other concerned world leaders who have called on the world to act. Among them, Prime Minister Blair of Great Britain, Prime Minister Aznar of Spain, President Kwasniewski of Poland. These leaders have reached the same conclusion I have -- that Saddam Hussein has made the case against himself," Bush said.
A Milan daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera, reported this week that Italian intelligence believes an attack on Iraq could give Islamic extremists the green light for new acts of terrorism. The newspaper reported that Arab populations, as well as fundamentalists in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, are ready to side with Saddam in any war launched by the United States, according to intelligence sources.
A war against Iraq would be interpreted as an attack by the West against the whole of the Islamic world, and thus the reaction would be compact and, most of all, unpredictable, according to intelligence sources, the Corriere della Sera reported.
Bush said Saturday that Richard Butler, former head of the U.N. team investigating Iraq's weapons program, concluded: "The fundamental problem with Iraq remains the nature of the regime itself. Saddam Hussein is a homicidal dictator who is addicted to weapons of mass destruction."
