‘Game Over,’ Bush Tells Saddam

 

By Jim Garamone, AFPS

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6, 2003 — President Bush said today Saddam Hussein will play a last-minute game of deception, empty promises and false denials in response to U.S. evidence given the United Nations, but, "The game is over."

"The danger Saddam Hussein poses reaches across the world," Bush said in a White House statement.

The president said the United States would welcome and support a new resolution "which makes clear that the Security Council stands behind its previous demands. Yet resolutions mean little without resolve."

Bush said the United States, along with a growing coalition of nations, "is resolved to take whatever action is necessary to defend ourselves and disarm the Iraqi regime."

The president gave what the military would call a "situation report." He said that 12 years after first agreeing to disarm and 90 days after the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 1441, "Saddam Hussein was required to make a full declaration of his weapons programs: He has not done so."

"Saddam Hussein was required to fully cooperate in the disarmament of his regime: he has not done so," Bush stated. "Saddam Hussein was given a final chance: He is throwing that chance away."

The president’s words follow Secretary of State Colin Powell’s presentation to the United Nations Feb. 5, giving the world body evidence of the Iraqi regime’s lies and deceptions.

Bush called on the United Nations to stand together. "On Nov. 8, by demanding the immediate disarmament of Iraq, the United Nations Security Council spoke with clarity and authority," he said.

"Now, the Security Council will show whether its words have any meaning. Having made its demands, the Security Council must not back down when those demands are defied and mocked by a dictator."

Bush said the experience of Sept. 11, 2001, showed what terrorists could do by turning jetliners into guided missiles. "We will not wait to see what terrorists or terrorist states could do with chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons," he emphasized.

The president said that the Iraqi dictator will now offer a round of empty promises and false denials. "No doubt he will play a last-minute game of deception," Bush said. "The game is over. All the world can rise to this moment. The community of free nations can show that it is strong and confident and determined to keep the peace."