Washington: US President George W Bush has asked the United Nations to enforce its
will and ensure disarming of Iraq or "fade into history as an ineffective,
irrelevant, debating society".
"I'm optimistic that free nations will show backbone and courage in the face of true
threats to peace and freedom," Bush told sailors on February 13 during a visit to
Mayport Naval Station in Florida.
"I believe when it's all said and done, free nations will not allow the United
Nations to fade into history as an ineffective, irrelevant, debating society," he
said.
Recalling that "twelve years ago, Saddam Hussein had agreed to disarm as a condition
of suspending the Gulf War", the President said, "Three months ago, UN Security
Council had given him a final chance to meet that obligation."
But "Saddam Hussein is not disarming, he is deceiving", he added.
The UN Security Council "can now decide whether or not it has the resolve to enforce
its resolutions", he said, adding the world body "this time must ensure enforcement
of what it told Saddam Hussein he must do".
But if the UN does not act, the US with its allies will disarm Saddam Hussein, he
said.
However, Bush said he was "optimistic that the UN Security Council will rise to its
responsibilities".
Military force was always America's last option, he said.
"Yet if force becomes necessary to disarm Iraq and enforce the will of the UN, if
force becomes necessary to secure America and to keep the peace, America will act
decisively, and America will act victoriously," Bush said.
Claiming that an overwhelming majority of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)
members oppose the threat of Iraq and understand that tough choices may be necessary
to keep the peace, he asserted that the US, alongwith its allies, will take action
against Baghdad.
"Many nations have offered to provide forces or other support to disarm the Iraqi
regime. Every nation of the Gulf Co-operation Council has agreed to help defend and
protect Kuwait. And now the world's most important multilateral body faces a
decision," he said.
Terming outlaw regimes that seek and possess nuclear, chemical and biological
weapons as "the gravest danger in the war on terror and the gravest danger facing
America and the world", Bush said the regimes could use such weapons for blackmail,
terror and mass murder.
"They could also give or sell those weapons to terrorist allies who would use them
without the least bit of hesitation. That is the reality of the world we live in,
and that is what we are going to use every ounce of our power to defeat," he
added.
The civilised world has awakened to the growing danger posed by the Iraqi regime,
Bush said.
"We understand our responsibility, and jointly we will do just that - we will
protect America and our friends and allies from these thugs," the President
said.
PTI
