US House Leaders, Administration Agree on Iraq Resolution

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, October 03, 2002

US House Leaders, Administration Agree on Iraq Resolution

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The leaders of the US House of Representatives and the Bush administration have reached an agreement on a resolution authorizing possible use of force to deal with Iraq, House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt said Wednesday.

"Iraq is a problem, It presents a problem after September 11," Gephardt told reporters after a White House breakfast meeting with President George W. Bush and three other leaders of Congress.

"We should deal with it diplomatically if we can, militarily if we must and I think this resolution does that," said the House Minority leader.

The agreement came after the White House agreed to a number of concessions in its initial proposal for broad authority to use military force against Iraq.

Gephardt said the draft resolution was "quite a different resolution" from the draft resolution proposed by the Bush administration. "We all agree that this proposal that we have agreed to is positive. It is moving us in the right direction," he added.

The Bush plan, sent to Congress last month, would give the president maximum flexibility to launch military action against Iraq.

Bush "believes the prospects for bipartisan passage of this are exceptionally strong," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said of the draft resolution that the House leaders and the administration agreed to.

"The president is pleased that the resolution gives him the tools he needs to deal with (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein's threat and that it does so in a way that does not tie his hands," Fleischer told reporters.

The House Committee on International Relations was to begin its work on the resolution later Wednesday, and floor debate was scheduled for next week.

The Senate is still debating the wording of a resolution on Iraq. And Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said the Senate would reach a deal later Wednesday.

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