MoD Information

Bush 'join me or die' warning

Fri, February 14, 2003

Source: Ananova News

George Bush has claimed the United Nations must help him confront Saddam Hussein or "fade into history as an ineffective, irrelevant, debating society".

George Bush has claimed the United Nations must help him confront Saddam Hussein or "fade into history as an ineffective, irrelevant, debating society".

As Bush issued his call for unity on the eve of the UN showdown over Iraq, the administration said Americans should be prepared for "a fairly long-term commitment" in Iraq if the United States goes to war.

Secretary of State Colin Powell told the House Budget Committee he had no estimate of the cost of war with Iraq.

But he did say he thought Iraq should be able to adjust quickly afterwards - in contrast to the slow pace of recovery in Afghanistan.

"I would hope that it would be a short conflict and that it would be directed at the leadership, not the society," he said. Iraq has an effective bureaucracy, rich oil resources and a developed middle class, the secretary of state said.

The flurry of events laid the groundwork for today, when UN weapons inspectors are to report to the UN Security Council on whether Iraq is complying with orders to disarm. Bush is expected to quickly follow up with a request for a UN resolution authorising force.

However, the top UN nuclear weapons inspector says that inspections should continue.

"We're still in midcourse, but we are moving forward, and I see no reason for us to bring the inspection process to a halt," Mohamed ElBaradei said.

UN officials said Hans Blix, who heads the hunt for Baghdad's biological and chemical weapons, would address a French proposal to triple the number of inspectors.