| Washington does not need the UN Security Council Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday, in a telephone conversation with his American counterpart, expressed regret over the ultimatum that George Bush put forward to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Bush demanded that Saddam and his two sons leave Iraq within 48 hours. Refusal will lead to military conflict. The president advised all foreign nationals, including journalists and international disarmament inspectors, “for their own safety” to leave Iraq.
Despite military preparations, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov yesterday left for New York, where a meeting of the UN Security Council will still take place. The situation is absurd. These days, all analysts are solemnly burying the UN - the Americans will confidently hammer the last nail in the coffin of this organization with their military action in the Persian Gulf. And just hours before the war, reports from the head of the UN group of inspectors for the disarmament of Iraq, Hans Blix, and the head of the IAEA, Muhammad AlBaradei, will be heard in New York. They will tell you how Iraq is finally disarming. In order, in the words of Igor Ivanov, “to really assess what stage of the problem we are at and what needs to be done.” “No one has the right to replace the Security Council,” he said before flying to the US capital. “Iraq does not pose a threat, and the crisis must be resolved based on the resolutions already adopted.” At the same time, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said last night that he would not attend the Security Council meeting.
The demarche of peace-loving ministers acting as if there was no US ultimatum to Iraq can only give confidence to Americans who consider the Security Council an ineffective organization. “The UN Security Council failed to fulfill its responsibilities, so we intend to fulfill ours,” President Bush said on the eve of the ministers’ departure to the United States. In his address to the nation, he outlined the American vision of security. Similar to what experienced street fighters advise - to hit first. “Waiting for the enemy to strike first is not self-defense, but suicide,” said George W. Bush. This is the new pre-emptive strike strategy.
The president did not provide any evidence that Baghdad is hatching plans to attack the United States. Iraq is supposedly to blame for the fact that terrorists can get to its possible arsenals (inspectors, however, did not find anything lethal in Iraq). "By using chemical, biological or, someday, nuclear weapons obtained with Iraqi help, terrorists could achieve their stated ambitions of killing thousands or hundreds of thousands of innocent people," Bush said.
Bush addressed the Iraqi people with particular feeling. “The tyrant will soon be gone. The day of your liberation is near,” he promised and painted a bright picture of the future: “We will deliver food and medicine to your country. We will dismantle the apparatus of terror and help you build a new Iraq, one that is prosperous and free." Television cameras showed Saddam Hussein's reaction - he laughed.
Uday, Saddam's eldest son, yesterday rejected a US ultimatum and instead suggested George Bush resign: "He is unstable and should step down from power in America."
In all the comments yesterday, the topic of oil from Iraq was constantly present, which ranks second in the world in terms of reserves of this wealth after Saudi Arabia. "Do not destroy the oil wells, the source of wealth that belongs to the Iraqi people," Bush urged the Iraqi military. Paradoxically, Washington plans to finance the future reconstruction of Iraq using revenues from the sale of Iraqi oil. Without this, even the US economy will not be able to bear such a burden. At the very beginning of the war, Bush will ask Congress for $70 to $100 billion for the military campaign (for comparison, the 1991 war cost America $80 billion in current prices). According to estimates by the Congressional Budget Committee, transporting military personnel and equipment to the conflict zone will cost $14 billion. Back - 5 billion less.
Yesterday, Moscow spoke with concern about the prospects for the redistribution of Iraqi oil, raising the issue of agreements between Russian oil companies and the Iraqi side. “These agreements were concluded by Russian companies with the current government of Iraq, which was legally elected. And we would like them to be fulfilled,” said Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. That is, war is war, and each country selfishly cares about its own interests. Even peace-loving France, through the mouth of its ambassador to the United States, Jean David Levitt, cautiously hinted that if during a possible war Baghdad uses prohibited chemical weapons (which, as Saddam now claims, he does not have), then Paris will support the anti-Iraqi coalition. Andrey ZLOBIN |
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