The week in review
By Mark Alexander · Friday, October 4, 2002
President George W. Bush this week made headway in his stated intent to provide for the common defense of our nation by dealing with the threat from Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Bush has been pursuing a canny dual track moving rapidly forward in concert with the U.S. Congress, and following along more placidly in the UN Security Council.
Appearing with congressional leaders Wednesday to make public the agreement that had been reached on War Powers Act authorization (the constitutionality of which the courts have never judged), President Bush praised the "unity of purpose" evident in the bipartisan congressional support, saying, "We will not leave the future of peace and the security of America in the hands of this cruel and dangerous man [Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein]." Even House Demo Leader Dick Gephardt agreed: "[T]this is the most important thing that we do. This should not be about politics. We have to do what is right for the security of our nation and the safety of all Americans." The president is pressing Congress for a resolution before the October 11 recess. While the exact wording of such a resolution continues to create an obstacle in the Democrat-controlled Senate, Majority Leader Tom Daschle has been effectively outmaneuvered and Republican Sen. John McCain anticipates at least 78 votes in favor, regardless of wording.
The Federalist has been a strong proponent of including the "single bullet" option in that resolution (consistent with the Executive Order President Bush signed authorizing assassination as one method for sustaining our national security against eminent threat). As explicated by White House spokesman Ari Fleischer earlier this week: "I can only say that the cost of a one-way ticket is substantially less than [the $20 billion it will cost to fund a frontal air and ground assault]. The cost of one bullet, if the Iraqi people take it on themselves, is substantially less than that. Never underestimate the yearning of people to stop being tortured, to stop being suppressed."
Externally, the UN Security Council continues to hammer out conditions for weapons inspections with Iraq. As logistical talks came to an end this week, the chief area of contention continued to be the status of 8 so-called presidential sites in Iraq, incorporating a total of 12 square miles, declared off-limits to surprise inspections according to a deal brokered between Saddam Hussein's regime and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1998. In the past, access has also been restricted to Iraqi government complexes such as the Defense Ministry, Interior Ministry and headquarters of the Republican Guard. The Bush administration is pressuring the UN to install a new resolution in place of the 1998 agreement, granting inspectors unfettered access in the WMD search. The UN Security Council will have the final say in any new agreement reached, but President Bush has put the UN on notice that the U.S. will act in its own national interests regardless of the UN's resolution.
By the termination of the Persian Gulf War in 1991, official estimates concluded that Iraq was only six months from completing a functional nuclear weapon. In that original round of inspections, officials discovered and seized an undisclosed amount of weapons-grade uranium. And, though Iraq's uranium enrichment program was disabled, there is plenty of the hot stuff on the black market. Earlier this week, Turkish paramilitary police seized one-half kilo of weapons-grade uranium in the southern province of Sanliurfa, which borders Syria (about 155 miles from the Iraqi border). You may recall, Turkish police in Istanbul seized over one kilo of weapons-grade uranium last November.
As The Federalist noted two months ago, our sources indicate that since mid-July, U.S. intelligence agency speculation about "whether" Iraq has nuclear weapons ceased. The assumption is now that Iraq does possess these weapons in a deployable form, and that al-Qa'ida is a logical surrogate to deliver and detonate a nuclear weapon to a U.S. urban center.
And the administration released new evidence linking Saddam's regime and al-Qa'ida. "[W]e do have solid evidence of the presence in Iraq of al-Qa'ida members, including some that have been in Baghdad," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said. "We have what we believe to be credible information that Iraq and al-Qa'ida have discussed safe haven opportunities in Iraq, reciprocal nonaggression discussions. We have what we consider credible evidence that al-Qa'ida leaders have sought contacts in Iraq who could help them acquire ... weapons of mass destruction capabilities."
Indeed, intelligence sources confirm that Jordanian born Abu Musab Zarqawi, a senior al-Qa'ida terrorism operations planner, met with Iraqi officials in Baghdad in July, and lived in Iraq for several months. Another bin Ladenite known to have been in Baghdad this year, Ahmad Hikmat Shakir, is a native Iraqi, and a known associate of Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, now in a U.S. prison for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.