|
State
of the Union: "Possible War"
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - President Bush, in a somber
State of the Union speech, vowed on
Tuesday to use the full force of the U.S.
military against Iraq if needed and warned
U.S. troops that "some crucial hours
may lie ahead" as he braced wary
Americans for a possible war.
"If
war is forced upon us, we will fight in a
just cause and by just means, sparing, in
every way we can, the innocent," Bush
told a national television audience from
the chamber of the House of
Representatives, which was brimming with
lawmakers, Cabinet secretaries and other
dignitaries.
The speech
was critical to Bush's attempt to marshal
backing for possible war and reassure
Americans jittery about a weak U.S.
economy. He said the U.S. economy was
still growing too slowly in the aftermath
of a recession, the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks, corporate scandals and stock
market declines, and promoted his $674
billion tax cut plan as a necessary balm.
Bush
sketched his portrait of an Iraq needing
the removal of Saddam Hussein with little
new evidence of an imminent threat and a
broad reiteration of previous charges.
There is a
growing anxiety among Americans about
going to war with Iraq and U.N. Security
Council members have urged the United
States to use caution and give U.N.
weapons inspections more time.
Bush had a
message for critics who have said the
threat from Iraq is not imminent.
"Some
have said that we must not act until the
threat is imminent," Bush said.
"Since when have terrorists and
tyrants announced their intentions,
politely putting us on notice before they
strike?"
To U.S.
forces in the Gulf region expected to be
ready for combat next month, Bush said:
"Many of you are assembling in and
near the Middle East, and some crucial
hours may lie ahead. In those hours, the
success of our cause will depend on
you."
He added:
"If war is forced upon us, we will
fight with the full force and might of the
United States military -- and we will
prevail."
Venezuelan
president's sympathizers clash with
protesters
Sympathizers
of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and a
group of opposition protesters clashed on
Tuesday in San Carlos city of Cojedes
state with no casualty reported.
The fights
were triggered off when the group went to
Bolivar Square to protest against Cojedes
Governor Johnny Yanez's decorating to
Division General of the National Guard
Luis Acosta. Eggs and stones were thrown
by protesters and sympathizers of the
government to the other side, while the
National Guard was trying to disperse
demonstrators from the square.
Acosta has
headed raids days ago on Panamco and Polar
firms to disperse an opposition
demonstration, leaving several injuries in
Carabobo state.
The
opposition, which launched a nationwide
strike on Dec. 2 last year, was determined
to seek Chavez's immediate resignation or
to press for early elections to vote him
out of office.
The
eight-week-long strike has partially
paralyzed Venezuela's oil industry and has
also triggered a fiscal crisis for the
Venezuelan government, forcing it to
suspend foreign exchange trading and cut
back budget spending by 10 percent.
Chavez, who
was reelected in 2000 and survived a brief
coup last April, rejected calls for early
elections before August this year, as well
as resignation halfway of his six-year
term.
France
urges US to disclose information on Iraq's
weaponry
Paris on
Tuesday called on Washington to give the
United Nations arms inspectors the
information that it claims to hold on
Baghdad's weaponry so that the UN
inspection mission in Iraq can proceed
efficiently.
"It is
up to the Americans to give the
information to the inspectors so that they
can make the best use of it. That is to
say, they
can compare it to what they dispose of on
the ground, so that the inspections can be
as efficient as possible," said
French Foreign Minister Dominique de
Villepin on French television, France 2.
"If
you want the UN inspectors to do their
job, each member of the UN Security
Council must share the information it
disposes of with the inspectors," he
said.
Iraq
pledges full cooperation with UN; US says
new resolution not mandatory
Iraq
on Tuesday assured the United Nations of
its complete cooperation in every aspect
with UN inspectors although it termed the
chief UN inspectors' report
"disproportionate."
Meanwhile,
the United States said a new UN Security
Council resolution on Iraq is
"desirable" but not
"mandatory" for possible US
military actions against Baghdad.
Iraq's
presidential adviser Gen. Amir Rashid said
on Tuesday that Iraq will cooperate fully
with UN inspectors.
Rashid said
Iraq was ready to offer an explanation on
some details about such issues as VX gas
and that his country had so far explained
scientifically by documents about that.
But Rashid said chief UN inspectors'
report on its disarmament was "no
proportional representation" and had
"abbreviated" important issues.
"Some
facts were amplified ... (and) important
issues have been abbreviated .. and
sometimes have been fully ignored,"
Rashid told a press conference in Baghdad.
"There was no proportional
representation of the facts," he
added. But he stressed that Iraq will
cooperate in easing all the issues
concerned, such as that on private
interviews with scientists and that on VX
gas.
Iraq and UN
inspectors have to work together to
provide facts through discussions with
scientists and explanations, he said.
"If
they want to make an interview with me, I
am ready because my name is within the
list of the scientists which have been
submitted to them," he said. He also
insisted that Iraq is no engaged in any
prohibited weapons of mass destruction
programs.
"I
would like first of all to say Iraq has
been free of any weapons of mass
destruction since the end of 1991 and all
the inspections," Rashid told
reporters. He noted Iraq had provided
"unconditional agreement" of the
inspection regime and that many sites
where American and British intelligence
reports allege banned weapons are being
developed had been searched by the UN
inspectors.
|
