|
Monday, March 17, 2003
Diplomatic efforts on Iraq all but over: Cheney
WASHINGTON -- US Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday that diplomatic efforts on Iraq were all but over, though Secretary of State Colin Powell said war still could be averted if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein steps down.
"There's no question we're close to the end of the diplomatic efforts," Cheney told NBC's "Meet the Press".
"Clearly, the president is going to have a make very difficult and important decision here in the next few days," he said.
"I think we're still in the final stages of diplomacy. It's one of the main reasons for the president's meeting Monday with the British and Spanish prime ministers," he said.
Cheney said a French proposal to consider a 30-day deadline for Iraqi disarmament would not become a new topic for debate.
Asked if the suggestion was a non-starter, Cheney said: "I think it is."
"We're approaching the point where further delay helps no one but Saddam Hussein," Cheney said.
Powell concurred, telling ABC: "I'm not expecting, really, a new proposal. There is a good, solid proposal on the table now. It is a resolution that these three nations -- the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain -- tabled Friday before last."
"But France has said it will veto it, and every adjustment we have tried to make to that resolution during the course of last week, France said it would veto," he said.
"I think in the short term we have damaged relations with France," he told Fox News Sunday.
Powell said he saw no point in holding a new UN Security Council meeting on Iraq at a time when differences were so profound.
But he insisted war still could be avoided if Saddam left power.
"If Saddam Hussein, his sons and a number of other top leaders were to leave and a more responsible leadership come in, a leadership that is determined to get rid of its weapons of mass destruction as they are supposed to and start to provide a better life for the Iraqi people, then a war certainly could be averted," he said.
The comments came as US President George W. Bush and the prime ministers of Britain and Spain were set to meet in the mid-Atlantic Portuguese Azores archipelago for a last-ditch summit before an anticipated conflict in Iraq. AFP |
|
|
|
 |
| click
to comment on this article or discuss it with other readers |
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
60-70 has. of SRP lot claimed by Talisay