US/IRAQ: The White House set the scene for confrontation with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein yesterday by stating categorically that it possessed solid evidence that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.
Baghdad is expected to formally deny possessing banned weapons in a formal declaration to the UN by Sunday. At the same time the US stepped up its psychological pressure on Iraq with high-profile preparations for war, including confirmation from the Pentagon that it is preparing for a major call-up of National Guard and reserve troops, starting with 10,000 reserve military police in the coming days.
Yesterday, more than 8,000 sailors and marines left the US naval base at Norfolk, Virginia, bound for the Gulf region. As the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman led the battle group out to sea, a voice on a loudspeaker said, "Peace on Earth to men of good will. All others stand by."
Asked yesterday if the US was headed toward war, Mr Bush said: "That's a question you should ask to Saddam Hussein."
He added: "For the sake of peace he must disarm. There are inspectors inside the country now and the inspectors are there not to play a game of hide-and-seek. They're there to verify whether or not Mr Saddam Hussein is going to disarm."
Mr Bush was speaking during a brief exchange with reporters in the White House.
White House spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer declined to reveal US evidence about weapons programmes in Iraq, but said the Bush administration would provide intelligence to UN inspectors.
"The President of the United States and the Secretary of Defence would not assert as plainly and bluntly as they have that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction if it was not true, and if they did not have a solid basis for saying it," Mr Fleischer said.
"The Iraqi government has proved time and time again to deceive, to mislead and to lie. Iraq has lied before and is lying now."
In Bogota, Colombia, the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, told a news conference: "We are absolutely sure they have continued to develop weapons of mass destruction, and we're sure they have in their possession weapons of mass destruction."
Iraq has been given until Sunday by UN Security Council Resolution No 1441 to declare any stockpiles or programmes of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons, and missile systems. It said it would submit the report tomorrow.
Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Mr Tariq Aziz told ABC News that "we don't have weapons of mass destruction. We don't have chemical, biological or nuclear weaponry, but we have equipment which was defined as dual use."
By its denials Iraq is shifting the burden of proof to the US and the Baghdad declaration is expected to contain thousands of documents on commercial material of potential military application defined as dual-use equipment that will take time to analyse.
The call-up of reserves comes on top of the mobilisation of 50,000 reservists for defence duties in the US and overseas states after the September 11th attacks on the US.
Pentagon officials were quoted as saying that it plans to call up as many reservists as during the 1991 Gulf war, when some 250,000 members of the National Guard and reserves were mobilised.
"Activating reserves is significant because it will affect every community in America, and it sends a signal that the President is serious," a senior military official said.
Next week, in a rehearsal for a possible attack on Iraq, Pentagon planners will conduct a command exercise headed by Gen Tommy Franks at Qatar's As Sayliyah army base.
They will test their ability to communicate, co-ordinate and react to battle conditions with other players around the world, a senior central command official said.
The USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier was one of a war fleet of nine ships to sail from Norfolk yesterday, including the a guided-missile cruiser and three guided-missile destroyers. It has about 80 aircraft.
The aircraft carrier USS George Washington is already in the Gulf region.