Washington: The US and Iraq appeared to move a step closer for a showdown as
Secretary of State Colin Powell blamed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein for giving
a "grudging response" to the Security Council's demand that he disarm and in doing
so blowing "his last chance".
The US believes that "we have given him more than enough time, that it's time for
the Security Council to make a decision this week, that he has blown his last
chance. We simply have not seen that strategic change of direction or intent that
1441 and all the previous resolutions called for," Powell said in an interview to
CNN.
"If Saddam Hussein was serious, he would not be placing demands on the UN, as he did
on March 8 (that the UN should lift the sanctions); he would be saying: 'Here are
all the people you want to interview; here are all the facilities that I have; here
are all the weapons that I have; here are all the documents that I have'," he said.
He said "They are master documenters, as Blix noted. They have records. Where are
these records? Why aren't they coming forward? Why are they only now suddenly
discovering more R-400 bomb fragments and pieces to show to the inspectors? They are
doing it grudgingly and they are doing it only to keep us from getting to the truth."
When the interviewer, Wolf Blitzer, pointed out that France, Germany and Russia,
some of America's closest allies, suggest that even a grudging response is better
than war, Powell responded that they were entitled to that point of view.
PTI
