US President Bush has issued an ominous warning to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein saying he had today begun a process of consultation that would culminate in a definitive policy towards Iraq. He also invited his closest ally, British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair to talks at Camp David.
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President Bush has issued an ominous warning to Saddam Hussein
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In Washington, Mr Bush said Saddam Hussein was "stifling the world", as he announced consultations with US politicians and US allies. He said his speech to the United Nations next week would outline the 'case' against Saddam.
"Today, the process starts," Bush said.
"At the appropriate time, the administration will go to the Congress and seek approval for the necessary [steps] to deal with the threat."
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Though he billed next week's UN speech as an important outline of his intentions, he would not say whether he would issue Iraq an ultimatum nor whether he would demand a return of weapons inspectors.
"This issue is not inspectors. The issue is disarmament," This is a man who said he would not arm up. He told the world he would not harbour weapons of mass destruction," Mr Bush said.
"I'll be discussing ways to make sure that is not the case. For 11 long years, Saddam Hussein has sidestepped, crawfished, weedled out of any agreements he had made not to develop weapons of mass destruction.
"So I'm going to call upon the world to recognise that he is stifling the world. And I will lay out and I will talk about ways to make sure he follows up on his agreements."
Mr Bush's meeting with top Democratic and Republican officials - including leaders of the Intelligence, Armed Services and International Relations committees - comes amid increasing signals that he is ready to go public with a fuller picture of the United States's 'evidence' about Saddam's weapons capabilities.
AP