US Discounts Results of Iraq Weapons Inspections

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, December 03, 2002

US Discounts Results of Iraq Weapons Inspections

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One week after the United Nations resumed weapons inspections in Iraq, US President George W. Bush on Monday discounted the results so far as "not encouraging," warning Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that he still needs to make further efforts to avert a possible war.

"In the inspections process, the United States will be making one judgment: Has Saddam Hussein changed his behavior of the last 11 years? Has he decided to cooperate willingly and comply completely, or has he not? So far the signs are not encouraging," Bush said at a ceremony held at the Pentagon.

"On or before the eighth of December, Iraq must provide a full and accurate declaration of its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs," Bush said, noting that the UN inspectors are not in Iraq to "play hide-and-seek" with Saddam.

December 8 is a deadline set up by the UN Security Council for Iraq to provide a detailed list of its alleged weapons of mass destruction programs.

Accusing Iraqi government of having responded to UN disarmamentdemands with "protests and falsehoods," Bush said Iraq's coming declaration of its weapons programs "must be credible and complete" or Saddam "will have demonstrated to the world once again that he has chosen not to change his behavior."

"The temporary peace of denial and looking away from danger would only be a prelude to broader war and greater horror," Bush said. "America will confront gathering dangers early before our options become limited and desperate," he noted.

Speaking at a gathering of US military leaders in Denver, Colorado, US Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday made a similar tough speech about Iraq.

He said that confronting the threat posed by Iraq is not a distraction from the war on terror but absolutely crucial to winning such a war.

"The war on terror will not be won until Iraq is completely andverifiably deprived of weapons of mass destruction," Cheney said.

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