WASHINGTON – A defiant Saddam Hussein yesterday said he’s “committed” to keeping his Al Samoud missiles, despite U.N. orders to destroy them – setting up a potential trigger point for war.
“Iraq is allowed to prepare proper missiles and we are committed to that,” Saddam told CBS anchor Dan Rather, who went to Baghdad for what was billed as Saddam’s first interview in a decade with an American journalist.
Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix has set Saturday as the deadline for Saddam to start destroying his 100 or so Al Samoud 2 missiles – and Blix has explicitly rejected Iraqi pleas that the missile is legal.
But Saddam strongly hinted he’ll refuse, insisting: “We do not have missiles that go beyond the proscribed range” of 93 miles.
The U.N.-mandated missile limit is designed to make sure that Saddam’s missiles can’t strike Israel and an international team of experts this month unanimously concluded that Iraq’s own data proves the Al Samoud exceeds that.
Saddam’s defiance could help the United States and Britain in their diplomatic duel with France and Germany over whether the U.N. Security Council should pass a tough new resolution setting the stage for war.
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said: “He’s been in contempt for the last 12 years. I guess he intends to continue to be in contempt on that issue as well as many, many others.”
Britain and France yesterday submitted dueling proposals on what should happen next at the U.N. Security Council, with France pushing for a 120-day delay – into the summer, when the heat would make military operations far tougher and riskier.
The French proposal – backed by Germany and Russia – insists that so far, the conditions for war are “not fulfilled” and claims that Iraqi cooperation “is improving as mentioned by the chief inspectors in their last report.”
But if Saddam defies Blix on the missiles, the chief inspector has made it clear that his next report on March 1 is sure to be much tougher – making it harder for France & Co. to argue for delay.
The council will debate Blix’s report on March 7 and the United States and Britain plan to push for a vote soon afterward.
The Bush-backed British resolution, also supported by Spain, states flatly that “Iraq has failed to take the final opportunity afforded to it [to disarm peacefully].”
The proposed new resolution doesn’t explicitly authorize war but makes war the only logical conclusion since the Security Council has already vowed “serious consequences” if Saddam defied U.N. demands.
So far, the Bush-backed resolution has just four sure votes – the United States, Britain, Spain and Bulgaria – and needs a total of nine to pass the 15-member council, even if France doesn’t carry out its veto threat.
But U.S. officials are pulling out all the stops in lobbying. And they recall that last fall, no one expected a get-tough resolution to pass – but it did, unanimously.
This weekend, Bush said that even if Saddam did destroy those weapons it wouldn’t stop war because they’re just “the tip of the iceberg” and he’d still have to destroy all his other mass weapons like anthrax and VX nerve gas.
The president has made it clear he’ll disarm Saddam with or without U.N. support but many European allies like Britain – facing popular opposition to war – would be more comfortable with U.N. support.
“It’s an interesting moment for the Security Council … Is it going to be a body that means what it says? We certainly hope it does,” Bush said yesterday. “But one way or another … Saddam Hussein will be disarmed.”
DUELING RESOLUTIONS ON IRAQ
United States and Britain on the Resolution: “Iraq has failed to take the final opportunity afforded to it (to disarm) in Resolution 1441.”
Weasels on the Resolution: “So far the conditions for using force against Iraq are not fulfilled. While suspicions remain, no evidence has been given that Iraq still possesses weapons of mass destruction.”