Archived Iraq coverage

White House may abandon efforts in U.N.

WASHINGTON - Its hopes dwindling for United Nations support of war against Iraq, the Bush administration reversed itself yesterday and said it would delay a Security Council vote until next week and might even drop plans for a vote altogether.

Blair proposes new conditions Iraq must meet

LONDON - Under intense political pressure to secure a new United Nations resolution before leading his country into war, British Prime Minister Tony Blair affirmed yesterday his willingness to fight alongside the United States and proposed tough new conditions that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein would have to fulfill immediately or face war within days.

U.S. agrees to bend U.N. deadline for Iraq to disarm fully

WASHINGTON - The United States agreed yesterday to bend the deadline for Iraq to disarm. But it showed rising impatience as Britain, its closest ally, scrambled to win United Nations approval for military action against Saddam Hussein.

U.S. would ease Iraq ultimatum to get U.N. votes

WASHINGTON - While France and Russia each threatened to veto a United Nations resolution authorizing war against Iraq, the Bush administration agreed yesterday to ease the terms of its ultimatum to Baghdad in a bid to win Security Council backing for military action.

Powell warns France on veto

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday that he was encouraged the Bush administration may prevail in a United Nations Security Council vote that would give Iraq until March 17 to disarm or face military action.

Bush takes Iraqi case to U.S. public

WASHINGTON -- Delivering a stark message to Americans, President Bush said last night that the United States stands on the brink of war with Iraq because Saddam Hussein poses a deadly threat to the nation Bush has sworn to defend.

Q&A with Sun reporter in Kuwait

WILM: You’ve been up to the Kuwait/Iraq border. What did you see there?

U.N. bloc vows to veto resolution on Iraq war

PARIS - France and Russia made clear yesterday that they were ready to use their veto powers to block passage of a new United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing force against Iraq, but Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said the United States would go to war without U.N. backing if necessary.

Watchful wait at border DMZ

ABDALI, Kuwait - Perched atop United Nations observation post N-9 at the Iraq-Kuwait border, Russian army Maj. Alex Konkin overlooks a wide, bleak and increasingly uneasy landscape.

Alleged NSA memo details U.S. eavesdropping at U.N.

In a rare leak that could prove embarrassing to the U.S. government, a British newspaper has printed a seemingly authentic National Security Agency memo ordering stepped-up eavesdropping against countries on the U.N. Security Council whose votes are crucial in the U.S. effort to build support for war against Iraq.

In Iraq war, women would serve closer to front lines than in past

WASHINGTON - The tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, and Apache and Kiowa helicopters have been shipped out. Now, the 12,000 men and women of the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Hood in Texas, the Army's most lethal heavy combat division, are saying goodbye and preparing their families for their deployment to the Persian Gulf region.

Baghdad agrees to destroy missiles

UNITED NATIONS -- The Bush administration's drive toward war with Iraq grew more complicated yesterday evening when Iraqi officials agreed "in principle" to comply with a U.N. order to begin dismantling scores of prohibited missiles.

Bush says war would benefit the Middle East

WASHINGTON - President Bush declared last night that a war to oust Saddam Hussein would begin to transform a violent Middle East by offering the inspiration of freedom to other nations, intimidating regimes that sponsor terror and boosting prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

U.S. seeks Iraq resolution

WASHINGTON -- The United States mounted an uphill drive yesterday to win international backing for war against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, joining with Britain and Spain to propose a new United Nations resolution declaring that Iraq has missed its "final opportunity" to disarm peacefully.

U.S., British are readying new resolution for U.N.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration and its closest ally, Britain, are planning to present a new resolution to the United Nations Security Council on Monday in a bid for support to use force to disarm Iraq.

Bush left unmoved by war protests

WASHINGTON -- Declaring that America's security should not be dictated by protesters, President Bush said Tuesday he would not be swayed from compelling Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to disarm. "We will deal with him," Bush said as U.S. and British diplomats weighed another bid for U.N. backing.

Bush implores U.N. to show 'backbone'

MAYPORT NAVAL STATION, Fla. - On the eve of a crucial Security Council debate, President Bush warned the United Nations that it must "show backbone and courage" in confronting Iraq or risk becoming irrelevant.

France, in corner, lacking good exit

PARIS - In the diplomatic maneuvering over Iraq, the actions of France have been strongly similar to its maneuvering before the Persian Gulf war in 1991, when Paris said war was a bad idea, offered counterproposals and threatened to stand apart from the United States in any military action. Then France signed on to the war.

Bin Laden tape exhorts Iraqis

WASHINGTON - An emotionless voice believed to be that of Osama bin Laden pledged solidarity yesterday with "our brothers in Iraq" and urged the Iraqi people to carry out suicide attacks if invaded by U.S.-led forces.

European rift widening over war on Iraq

LONDON - France, Germany and Belgium yesterday blocked NATO efforts to begin planning to protect Turkey in case of a war with Iraq, prompting a public call for emergency consultations under the alliance's mutual defense treaty for the first time in its 53-year history.

Iraq drops opposition to flights by U-2 planes

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq reversed its opposition to U-2 surveillance flights over its territory yesterday, meeting a key demand by United Nations inspectors searching for banned weapons.

Iraq's approach more serious, inspectors say

WASHINGTON-The two chief United Nations weapons inspectors said yesterday that they had not achieved a breakthrough in meetings in Baghdad and that their visit failed to produce the swift movement toward Iraqi disarmament demanded by the United States to slow the momentum toward war.

Bush urges U.N. to show resolve against Hussein

WASHINGTON - Saying "the game is over" for Saddam Hussein, President Bush challenged the United Nations Security Council yesterday to enforce its demand that Iraq disarm.

War game tests, builds teamwork in military

GRAFENWOEHR, Germany - Symbols of war illuminate the sprawling, computer-generated wall map. A thatch of green lines shows the air routes of U.S. attack aircraft. Blue circles reflect the lethal reach of the Army's Patriot missile batteries. In the center, nearly lost amid the glow, sits the prize: Baghdad.

Powell's Iraq revelations come at intelligence cost

WASHINGTON - Seeing the transcript of a secretly intercepted Iraqi conversation flash across the monitor Wednesday as part of Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's presentation to the United Nations came as a shock to those who work in the classified intelligence business.

'Irrefutable' Iraq evidence

UNITED NATIONS - Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, presenting satellite images, intercepted telephone calls and informants' accounts, warned the Security Council yesterday that Iraq is making extensive efforts to build weapons of mass destruction and deceive United Nations arms inspectors, bringing it "closer to the day when it will face serious consequences."

Speech convinces skeptics in Congress

WASHINGTON - Even some who have questioned the need for war described Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's performance at the United Nations yesterday as a persuasive case for military action against Iraq within a matter of weeks.

Chirac resists Blair on war against Iraq

LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair failed yesterday to persuade French President Jacques Chirac to support a United Nations resolution authorizing war with Iraq. Chirac made clear, however, that he might change his mind if he is convinced that Iraq is stockpiling or producing weapons of mass destruction.

In Powell presentation, crucial test of diplomacy

WASHINGTON - If war and peace hang in the balance when Secretary of State Colin L. Powell addresses the United Nations Security Council tomorrow, so does Powell's six-month effort to be both President Bush's loyal soldier on Iraq and the nation's top diplomat.

Alliance with U.S. big risk for Blair

LONDON - When he meets with President Bush at Camp David today, British Prime Minister Tony Blair will be seen by many Americans as an unwavering ally of the United States, the most recent leader of a country that has been an extraordinarily staunch friend over the decades.

Iraq invasion by early March, analysts predict

WASHINGTON - With President Bush and his top aides saying that the time for diplomacy is slipping away, military officers and defense analysts predict that the United States could once again be at war with Iraq as early as the third week in February.

U.S. prepares last appeal to allies on Iraq

WASHINGTON - Facing still skeptical allies and demands for clearer evidence of threats posed by Saddam Hussein, the Bush administration yesterday launched what it described as a final push for international support for diplomatic and military pressure against Iraq.

Powell to offer array of evidence

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin L. Powell will make a compelling case to the United Nations Security Council next week when he outlines the evidence against Iraq, but he is unlikely to produce a "smoking gun" or re-create what has come to be called an "Adlai Stevenson moment," U.S. officials say.

Bush braces America for war

WASHINGTON - At a tense moment in his presidency, George W. Bush braced the nation last night for a looming war against Iraq and vowed to deliver new evidence to the United Nations that Saddam Hussein is concealing deadly weapons and has links to terrorist groups.

Analysis

President makes case forcefully, but with nuances, shades of gray

WASHINGTON - President Bush spoke last night about cutting taxes, reforming Medicare and fighting AIDS in Africa. But it was all just a warm-up to the singular focus of his speech, and the current mission of his presidency: removing Saddam Hussein from power - with or without the world's support.

Congressional response is predictably partisan

WASHINGTON-Leaders in both parties cheered President Bush last night for what they called a strong and measured message on Iraq in his State of the Union address, even as Democrats attacked him bitterly for domestic policies they said were wrong-headed.

In speech, a pledge to answer 'every enemy'

Mr. Speaker, Vice President Cheney, members of Congress, distinguished guests, fellow citizens:

Blix tells U.N. Iraq refuses to comply on disarmament

WASHINGTON - The chief U.N. weapons inspector told the United Nations Security Council yesterday that Iraq has not accepted the need to disarm, even to avoid war, and could possess thousands of chemical weapons, thousands of gallons of a germ warfare agent and missiles that exceed the permitted range.

Sun Journal: Inspectors' remarks on Iraq

NEW YORK - Hans Blix, executive chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, reported to the United Nations Security Council yesterday on the progress of weapons inspections in Iraq.

U.S. threatens nuclear force in warning to Iraq

WASHINGTON - The White House chief of staff refused yesterday to rule out the possibility of using nuclear weapons during a war with Iraq to prevent what he called a "holocaust" caused by the possible use of weapons of mass destruction by Baghdad.

U.S. plays down role of inspectors

WASHINGTON - The United States, facing demands that United Nations inspectors be given more time to search for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, sought to diminish the role of inspectors yesterday and portray them as all but helpless against a stepped-up Iraqi campaign of concealment and intimidation.

Iraq heat 'not factor,' military chief says

WASHINGTON - With United Nations inspectors and some U.S. allies pressing for more time, possibly months, to probe for Saddam Hussein's illegal arms, the nation's top military officer said the possibility of invading Iraq in the warmer months is not a concern.

Bush chides allies over Iraq 'lessons'

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration expressed frustration yesterday with several of its allies who want to allow more time for Iraq to disarm before the United States decides to wage war against Saddam Hussein's regime.

11 empty rockets found in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq - An inspection team searching bunkers in southern Iraq yesterday found 11 empty chemical warheads that Iraqi officials had not declared to the United Nations, a U.N. spokesman said. Iraq insisted that it had reported the rockets, which it said were old and never used for chemical weapons.

U.S. steps up pressures on U.N. arms inspectors

WASHINGTON - The United States is working to derail plans by a top United Nations weapons inspector for months of further inspections in Iraq, pressing him instead to intensify his efforts to expose alleged Iraqi deception between now and his next report to the U.N. Security Council late this month, administration officials said yesterday.

U.S. to train Iraqi exiles as liaisons for military

WASHINGTON - The United States is gearing up to train several thousand Iraqi exiles at an airbase in Hungary to serve as translators, guides and intermediaries for U.S. forces if President Bush decides to go to war against Saddam Hussein, defense officials said.

With possibility of war in Iraq, Comfort is prepared for worst

Navy Lt. Todd Larson will spend today getting his ship ready for war, just as he did yesterday.

Iraq is in 'material breach' of U.N. resolution, U.S. says

WASHINGTON - The United States declared Iraq yesterday to be in "material breach" of the United Nations resolution requiring Baghdad to divulge its weapons programs, a violation that it said moved Iraq "closer to the day" when it might face military attack.

U.S. presses questioning of Iraq scientists

WASHINGTON - In the face of what they say is Iraq's failure to disclose key information about its weapons programs, American officials are increasing pressure on United Nations weapons inspectors to interview Iraqi scientists, preferably abroad.

U.S. gains early access to Iraqi arms declaration

Iraq's mammoth arms declaration covers its nuclear program up until the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the names of companies and foreign governments that assisted its former chemical weapons program and details of Baghdad's efforts to build biological weapons.