- NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Reuters)
- Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday laid out the White House's case
for a pre-emptive strike on Iraq, citing mortal danger to the United States
and labeling critics as guilty of "willful blindness."
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- Cheney used a gathering of the Veterans of Foreign Wars
to reject fears, expressed publicly by some senior members of his own Republican
Party and others, that pre-emptive military action would undermine the
global U.S. war on terrorism and mark a radical new departure for American
foreign policy.
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- Citing what he said was the danger that Iraqi weapons
of mass destruction could fall into the hands of terrorists, Cheney said
America could not afford to sit by idly. It would, if necessary, fight
a war of liberation, not of conquest.
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- "The risk of inaction is far greater than the risk
of action," he said, in remarks clearly designed to win over public
opinion at home and address skepticism abroad over military action to oust
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
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- "And the entire world must know that we will take
whatever action is necessary to defend our freedom and our security."
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- The vice president, who served as secretary of defense
during the 1991 Gulf War, said Iraq's development of advanced weaponry,
its refusal to allow U.N. inspectors to monitor its weapons programs and
its general hostility had produced "an imperative for pre-emptive
action."
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- MORTAL THREAT
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- "What we must not do is in the face of a mortal
threat is to give in to wishful thinking or willful blindness. We will
not simply look away, hope for the best and leave the matter for some future
administration to resolve."
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- Cheney's remarks, a strong rebuke to recent words of
caution several Republican Party luminaries in recent weeks, came as the
administration asserted its legal authority to attack Iraq without advance
approval from Congress.
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- Spokesman Ari Fleischer said White House lawyers had
concluded President Bush had authority under the Constitution and subsequent
acts of Congress to take military action against Iraq, without special
congressional approval.
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- But he held out the possibility the president would consult
Congress all the same. "The president, aware of this determination,
if he makes a decision about the use of force, will make the decision about
a congressional vote on more than legal factors alone," Fleischer
said.
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- Officials have stressed Bush has made no decisions regarding
a possible attack on Iraq, and that he would consult with Congress regarding
future steps. The White House has also chastised the media for creating
what Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called "a frenzy" over
a possible Iraq campaign.
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- "REGIME CHANGE"
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- Yet, senior administration figures have not been shy
about their public demands for "regime change" in Baghdad. Bush,
whose father was president during the war with Iraq, himself has talked
about it at almost every public appearance.
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- Spokesman Fleischer, with the president at his ranch
in Crawford, Texas, made it clear Cheney's tough talk reflected Bush administration
policy.
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- Cheney said: "I am familiar with the arguments against
taking action in the case of Saddam Hussein. Some concede that Saddam is
evil, power hungry and a menace, but that until he crosses the threshold
of actually possessing nuclear weapons we should rule out any preemptive
action.
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- "That logic seems to me to be deeply flawed. The
argument comes down to this: 'Yes, Saddam is as dangerous as we say he
is, we just need to let him get stronger before we do anything about it,"'
he said.
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- "Yet if we did wait until that moment, Saddam would
simply be emboldened and it would become even harder for us to gather friends
and allies to oppose him."
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- In Afghanistan, he said, "the world has seen that
America acts not to conquer, but to liberate ... We would act in that same
spirit after a regime change in Iraq.
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- "With our help, a liberated Iraq can be a great
nation once again," he said.
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