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Bush Calls In Lawmakers
For Iraq Strategy Talks

By Giles Elgood
9-4-2

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As Baghdad offered once more to work with the United Nations on Tuesday to head off a threatened U.S. military strike, President Bush called congressional leaders to the White House for talks expected to focus on his efforts to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
 
Iraq said Bush might be bent on war anyway and a defiant Saddam said his people would emerge triumphant from any military showdown with their enemies.
 
In Washington, top Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives and the Senate will attend a meeting with Bush on Wednesday, which comes as he launches a major bid for support for the overthrow of the Iraqi president.
 
The White House, which accuses Iraq of developing weapons of mass destruction, said Bush had not made a decision on how to proceed against Saddam and had promised to consult with members of Congress and key allies.
 
"The president said he would consult with the members of the (Capitol) Hill about the topic of security, about Iraq, about the war on terror," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. "This is part of the president reaching out and consulting."
 
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Washington's closest foreign ally against Iraq, issued a stark warning to Saddam on Tuesday, telling him to comply with U.N. resolutions on weapons of mass destruction or face removal.
 
Blair was speaking hours after Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz made a renewed conditional offer at a meeting in Johannesburg with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to resume cooperation with the U.N. to defuse the crisis with Washington.
 
WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
 
"If the question of so-called weapons of mass destruction is a genuine concern by the U.S., this matter could be dealt with reasonably and equitably, but if it is a pretext for (regime) change ... then they will use whatever pretext that remains in their hands to attack Iraq," Aziz told reporters.
 
He said a comprehensive solution would involve tackling U.S. threats to oust Iraq's leadership, American and British air patrols over the north and south of Iraq, and the lifting of sanctions imposed for Baghdad's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
 
"As I told the Secretary-General, if anybody can have a magic solution, so that all these issues are being dealt with together, equitably and reasonably, we are ready to find such a solution and we are ready to cooperate with the United Nations."
 
Annan said in a statement the meeting was part of continuing talks with Iraq on arms inspectors, who left in 1998 just before a U.S.-British bombing campaign to punish Baghdad for its alleged failure to cooperate with their mission.
 
"At this stage I cannot say they've taken a decision to allow the inspectors. I mean they have questions," Annan told CNN after he spoke to Aziz.
 
Aziz appeared to restate demands that Annan has in the past rejected on the grounds that Security Council resolutions call for inspectors to be readmitted without conditions.
 
In Britain, Blair said Iraq posed a real and unique threat to the Middle East and the world, which the international community, not just the United States, must deal with.
 
"Either the regime starts to function in a completely different way ... or the regime has to change."
 
Saddam said on Tuesday that the Iraqis would emerge victorious in any showdown with their enemies, a clear reference to threatened U.S. military action.
 
MOTHER OF ALL BATTLES
 
"We have prevailed before and we will also prevail in Umm al-Ma'arik (the Mother of All Battles) at the end, God willing," Iraq's state television quoted Saddam as saying in an open letter to the Iraqi people.
 
Despite transatlantic friction over U.S. war talk, signs are emerging of a final push to get the inspectors back to Iraq before any military action, European diplomats said.
 
Under a plan that European Union foreign ministers will discuss with Secretary of State Colin Powell in New York next week, a new mandatory Security Council resolution would be adopted within two months demanding that Iraq unconditionally readmit weapons monitors.
 
That would put the onus on Saddam to cooperate quickly or face likely military consequences, the diplomats said.
 
Powell said on Tuesday he was exploring proposals that would restore U.N. arms inspections despite what he called "lots of differences" inside the United States over what the administration should do.
 
Powell told reporters aboard his plane to Johannesburg that inspectors could play a part in disarming Iraq and that he shared Bush's position on this.
 
Vice President Dick Cheney said last week that the U.N. arms inspectors, who have not visited Iraq for four years, could "provide no assurance whatsoever" and could even add to the danger by giving a false sense of comfort.
 
Powell said: "We are all working in harmony to make sure the president has the very best information. All the different insights that exist within his cabinet have to be brought to bear on this so that he can make the best decision."
 
Bush says Iraq is part of an "axis of evil" and whose leader must be removed before he can threaten the West and its allies with an array of doomsday weapons. Iraq says its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons have already been destroyed.
 
France on Tuesday backed the return of U.N. arms inspectors to Iraq and wanted any strike on Baghdad to be made contingent on U.N. Security Council approval.
 
Former South African president Nelson Mandela said he had advised Iraq to accept the return of the inspectors provided they were drawn from all continents and were objective.
 
U.S. talk of assaulting Iraq has sparked dismay around the world, with Russia, Pakistan and six Gulf Arab states among the latest to express their opposition to any such war.






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