[CTRL] Hurry Up Wait
-Caveat Lector- The subject is the motto of most if not all great militarians. The problem that Shrub and Blairberry are running into is having all those people prepared for battle but the tide is not going the warpimps' way. To have everyone sitting around and waiting for the word to go creates a strain on morale and resolve. This is the probelm that Ikenhower had before D-Day back in '44 when the invasion forces were kept on alert for an almost too long time. Talk about waiting time in an airport?!? Try existing on adrenalin for a few weeks into months and then having to ramp it up a bit more when the call comes. This makes for sloppiness and recklessness and wreckfulness. A:E:R http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,879663,00.html Blair stand puts strain on coalition France leads threat to veto move to war Patrick Wintour, Julian Borger in Washington and John Henley in Paris Wednesday January 22, 2003 The Guardian George Bush and Tony Blair were yesterday in danger of fracturing the international coalition on Iraq when they declared that Saddam Hussein was not cooperating with the UN weapons inspectors, and time was running out for him. In a significant hardening of the US and UK position, both Mr Blair and Mr Bush claimed that a pattern of non-cooperation will represent a breach of the UN resolutions and justification for military action. With Mr Blair admitting that his task of holding the coalition together was becoming tougher, the French, Russians and Chinese all insisted the UN weapons inspectors needed more time to do their job. All three security council members said that next Monday's report to the UN by the weapons inspectors chief, Hans Blix, must not be taken as a trigger point for war. For the first time the French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, talked openly of wielding the French veto if necessary. We believe that nothing today justifies envisaging military action, he said. Revealing the behind-the-scenes diplomatic battle over the timing of any war, Mr Bush said: Surely our friends have learned lessons about the past. Surely we have learned how this man [Saddam Hussein] deceives and delays. He's given people the runaround and time is running out. He's been told to disarm for 11 long years. He is not disarming. This business about more time. How much more time do we need to see clearly he's not disarming? This looks like a rerun of a bad movie and I'm not interested in watching. The US deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage, was equally decisive. There is not one sign that the regime has any intent to comply fully with the terms of resolution 1441, he said. The options for Iraq are just about exhausted at this point. This regime has very little time left to undo the legacy of 12 years. The British are privately confident the harsher Washington rhetoric does not imply that the US will demand the UN backs war next Monday. The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, will today meet Colin Powell, the US secretary of state and leading dove, to urge the US to show restraint and instead amass further damaging evidence that will make a war more acceptable to a sceptical world. Mr Blair, quizzed on Iraq by the Commons liaison committee for two and a half hours, also insisted that Saddam was not cooperating with the weapons inspectors, saying that no one seriously believed the 12,000- page dossier submitted by the Iraqis on its weapons. He said bluntly: I simply point out that at the moment the inspectors are saying that the Iraqis have not been cooperating properly. He stressed that at some point the security council might have to accept that the Iraqi non-cooperation in itself represented a material breach. There were two different sets of circumstances which could amount to a material breach of resolution 1441, Mr Blair said. There is a set of circumstances in which you find the conclusive proof, and there is a set of circumstances in which a pattern of behaviour develops of non- cooperation. The first is easy to describe as a category. The second requires a more considered judgment ... It isn't a game of hide and seek. It is not a game where the inspectors are supposed to go in and if they find the stuff they win, and if Saddam conceals the stuff he wins. They are not a detective agency. The judgment that you need to make, and it is a matter of judgment itself as to the time at which you need to make this, is: is he co- operating? He repeatedly insisted that Britain will be willing to go to war without UN support, but added it was highly desirable to have that backing. He also expressed confidence that the UN would back a war if clear evidence of a breach was put in front of it. Throughout, he gave the impression of a man completing the final details of preparing for war, including preparations for possible chemical attacks on British troops. In the only glimmer of hope for peace, he suggested that President Saddam's regime was under growing internal
[CTRL] Hurry Up Wait (Some More)
-Caveat Lector- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23983- 2003Jan21.html washingtonpost.com Bush Scolds U.N. Member Nations on Iraq By Ron Fournier AP White House Correspondent Tuesday, January 21, 2003; 6:50 PM WASHINGTON President Bush on Tuesday scolded world leaders who are demanding more time to search Iraq for illegal arms, and a top U.S. diplomat warned that war is fast approaching as America's only option. This business about more time how much time do we need to see clearly that he's not disarming? Bush said, acknowledging frustration with both Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and reluctant U.S. allies like France and Germany. Surely our friends have learned lessons from the past. Surely, we have learned how this man deceives and delays, Bush said. This looks like a rerun of a bad movie, and I'm not interested in watching it. The chiding was part of an administration-wide effort to counter rising opposition to war that could jeopardize Bush's fragile anti-Saddam coalition. With tens of thousands of U.S. troops massed near Iraq, the president is expected to decide in a matter of weeks whether to end diplomatic efforts and wage war. Our other options are just about exhausted at this point, said Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in a Washington speech cleared by the White House. This regime has very little time left to undo the legacy of 12 years. There is no sign, there is not one sign that the regime has any intent to comply fully with the United Nations. France complicated Bush's task by telling the United Nations Security Council there is no reason yet for military action, hinting it may veto any resolution authorizing an attack. Other nations including Russia, Germany, China and Chile have backed the French contention that U.N. inspections are starting to work and Iraq can be disarmed peacefully. I think the sense of the council is that the majority is against military action, Russia's deputy U.N. ambassador, Gennady Gatilov, told The Associated Press. Britain, America's closest ally, is the only major military power committed to joining the United States. Other countries with smaller armies, such as Australia, Canada and Bulgaria, could play supporting roles in a coalition of the willing that Bush has pledged to lead if the United Nations won't join him. Turning up the heat on allies, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer warned anew that the United Nations' very relevancy is dependent on its ability to disarm Iraq. The Bush administration says Iraq is hiding weapons of mass destruction beneath the desert and in mobile facilities. Though no proof has been made public, Armitage said the 16 empty chemical warheads discovered recently in Iraq are the tip of the iceberg. Where are the other 29,984? Because that's how many empty chemical warheads the U.N. Special Commission estimated he had, and he's never accounted for, Armitage said. And where are the 550 artillery shells that are filled with mustard gas, and the 400 biological weapons ... and the 26,000 liters of anthrax, the botulism, the VX (nerve agent), the sarin gas that the U.N. says he has? Armitage said. Some people may say there is no smoking gun, but there's nothing but smoke, the diplomat said. To put this fire out, Saddam is going to have to work. White House officials said Armitage's argument previewed the case Bush will make against Saddam in next week's State of the Union address. They said Bush won't declare war or impose a deadline next Tuesday night, and they played down the prospects of new evidence being revealed. In addition to Armitage's speech, the White House released a 29-page report entitled Apparatus of Lies that purports to document Iraq's brutal record of deceit. It accuses Saddam of enriching himself at the expense of his people, using the bodies of dead babies for staging funeral processions and exploiting Islam. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz plans to discuss models for disarmament in a Thursday speech designed to further build the case against Saddam. While the president said Saddam has been given ample time to disarm, he gave no hint of how soon he would decide whether diplomacy has run its course. Time is running out, Bush said. The Bush administration said world leaders don't need to await evidence that Saddam is hiding weapons of mass destruction. The world came together, including the French, to say he must disarm. He is not disarming, Bush said. He is delaying. He's deceiving. He's asking for time. He's playing hide-and-seek with inspectors. Secretary of State Colin Powell, meeting with his Italian counterpart at the State Department, said Iraq must stop playing games and get rid of its weapons of mass destruction. Iraq must be disarmed if not peacefully then by force, Powell said. Powell also conferred by telephone on Tuesday with French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, who on Monday raised the prospect of a French veto of any resolution to
