09/19/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-10139

WORLD LEADERS AGAINST SADDAM

The United States is calling for action against the danger posed by the aggressive Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. And as President George W. Bush pointed out on September 14^th, a growing number of world leaders agree "that Saddam Hussein has made the case against himself." They include British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, and Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski.

As Mr. Bush said, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein "has broken every pledge he made to the United Nations. . .since his invasion of Kuwait was rolled back in 1991. Sixteen times the U-N Security Council has passed resolutions designed to ensure that Iraq does not pose a threat to international peace and security. Saddam Hussein has violated every one. . .not once, but many times."

"Saddam Hussein’s regime continues to support terrorist groups and to oppress its civilian population," said President Bush. "It refuses to account for missing Gulf War personnel, or to end illicit trade outside the U-N’s oil-for-food program. And although the regime agreed in 1991 to destroy and stop developing all weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles, it has broken every aspect of this fundamental pledge."

Today, said Mr. Bush, the Iraqi regime "likely maintains stockpiles of chemical and biological agents, and is improving and expanding facilities capable of producing chemical and biological weapons. 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."

As Mr. Bush said, "By supporting terrorist groups, repressing its own people, and pursuing weapons of mass destruction. . .Saddam Hussein’s regime has proven itself a grave and gathering danger. . . . 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 U-N serve the purposes of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?"

"We must choose," said President Bush, "between a world of fear, or a world of progress. We must stand up for our security and the demands of human dignity. By heritage and choice, the United States will make that stand. The world community must do so, as well."