M A I N   N E W S

War with Iraq inevitable: USA

Washington, February 6
Suggesting that war with Iraq may be inevitable, the USA, after making a presentation on Baghdad at a crucial UN Security Council meeting, has said Mr Saddam Hussein has thrown away his last chance to comply with the United Nations resolutions, even as the UN chief asked Iraq to comply with the resolution.

“The world will now be united and very sceptical of any eleventh hour efforts he (Saddam) makes to pretend he is complying,” US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said.

However, she indicated that the USA may seek another UN vote on Iraq “This began 12 years ago, and so on, sooner or later, and we believe much sooner, we are going to have to go to the international community, go to the Security Council and say ‘Now it’s time to deal with the fact that we told Iraq that serious consequences would follow the next time it didn’t comply’.”

The problem is not just weapons of mass destruction or cavorting with terrorists but this “megalomaniacal man in the middle of this very volatile regime,” she told CNN last night.

“It presents a very dangerous picture for the future if Saddam Hussein and his regime are not dealt with,” she said.

President George W. Bush, said Ms Rice, “understands the cost of war, for he will be the one who will have to console the widows and orphans. It is a lonely job for the President of the United States to decide he must ask the ultimate sacrifice of Americans.” PTI