Washington: In a frigid response, the United States has said Iraq's approval of the
use of US-made U-2 surveillance planes by weapons inspectors as "tactical retreats"
and accused Saddam Hussein that he would use civilians as "human shields".
"The bottomline is the President (George W Bush) is interested in disarmament. This
does nothing to change that," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said on February
10 when asked about the offer to permit U-2 flights by Iraq.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher described the Iraqi moves as tactical
retreats and said Baghdad still had not indicated whether it would comply quickly
and fully with UN disarmament demands.
President Bush, speaking at a meeting of religious broadcasters in Nashville on
February 10, said, "We face an outlaw regime in Iraq that hates our country. Saddam
Hussein has broken every promise to disarm."
Saddam Hussein, he said, "views the Iraqi people as human shields entirely
expendable when their suffering serves his purposes".
By contrast, he said, America views the Iraqi people as human beings who have
suffered long enough "under this tyrant". He promised that the US would bring food,
medicines and supplies to aid Iraqi civilians if war comes.
Meanwhile, during his travels in Europe, Defence Secretary Rumsfeld has urged the
international community to "begin to prepare for war" with Iraq. He insisted that
Iraq is continuing its defiance of UN resolutions to disarm itself.
Though two key powers on the continent, France and Germany, are opposed to war, the
US counts eighteen European countries among its supporters, led by Britain.
PTI
