WASHINGTON – The White House yesterday said President Bush has “solid” evidence that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass murder despite Iraqi denials.
The White House refused to spell out its evidence, but that charge sets the stage for accusing Iraq of lying – and inviting a military attack – if it denies having any such weapons in a formal declaration this weekend.
“Iraq has lied before and is lying now about whether they possess weapons of mass destruction,” White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said. “The president of the United States and the secretary of defense 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.”
U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441 requires Saddam to declare all chemical, biological and nuclear programs – Iraq says it will do so tomorrow – and warns that Baghdad risks “the severest consequences” if it lies.
Asked if America and Iraq are now headed to war, President Bush yesterday replied, “That’s a question you should ask to Saddam Hussein.”
Saddam yesterday spoke to Iraqi military leaders and his Baath Party and predicted victory over America if there is war: “We shall take the stand that befits our people, principles and mission. Victory will be yours.”
Earlier this week, another Iraqi official accused the U.N. inspectors of working for the CIA and Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, but Saddam took a more conciliatory tone, saying he agreed to the inspections “to keep our people out of harm’s way.”
U.S. officials say that if Saddam denies he has any prohibited weapons, his declaration will have to account for what happened to stocks of Vx gas and dread germs like anthrax that inspectors found before they were forced out of Iraq in 1998.
Over the past week, top White House officials have stressed that the declaration alone won’t trigger war because it must be evaluated in a “very thoughtful” and “deliberate” fashion as Fleischer put it – but they’ve also suggested it could be a point of no return.