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Resistance against US War on Iraqi is on the rise
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Thousands of Americans took to the streets during the weekend to oppose a war on Iraq, but the Bush administration stood firm and said it was time for the United Nations to act, not debate.
Baghdad kept up its war of rhetoric with Washington, accusing it Sunday of trying to intimidate the U.N. Security Council into adopting a new draft resolution that could pave the way for military action.
"The evil American administration is practicing clear terrorism inside and outside the Security Council in order to pass a new draft resolution," said al-Thawra newspaper, the mouthpiece of President Saddam Hussein's ruling Baath Party.
"Each paragraph of the new draft represents a core of tension and an excuse for launching aggression."
President Bush, well used to invective from Iraq, also faced vocal opposition at home Saturday when thousands of Americans marched to oppose any war.
"This is going to be an ugly, unnecessary fight. Most of the world is saying 'no' to it," civil rights leader Jesse Jackson told a crowd at Washington's Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
"Pre-emptive, one-bullet diplomacy, we cannot resort to that."
Organizers said 150,000 people took part in the anti-war protest in the U.S. capital, but witnesses put the number at fewer than 50,000. A river of marchers flowed to the White House to press the case that a war on Iraq would be a tragic mistake.
"George Bush, you can't hide. We charge you with genocide!" chanted the protesters.
Another 40,000 marched in San Francisco, with thousands more demonstrating in Amsterdam, Berlin and other European cities.
Up to 3,000 people marched in a Sunday anti-war demonstration in the Spanish capital Madrid.
Bush was not around to see the White House protest because he was taking part in a summit of Pacific Rim leaders in Mexico.
With a skeptical Mexican President Vicente Fox by his side, Bush repeated that the United States would lead a coalition against Iraq if the United Nations failed to act to ensure Saddam did not possess chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
"If the U.N. won't act, if Saddam Hussein won't disarm, we will lead a coalition to disarm him," Bush said.
'FUNDAMENTAL DECISIONS'
Secretary of State Colin Powell, also in the Mexican beach resort Los Cabos for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, said key decisions had to be made in the next few days.
"We have reached the point where we have to make a few fundamental decisions in the early part of next week and go forward," he said.
"We can't continue to have a debate that never ends."
The United States, with British support, has been pressing for six weeks for the 15-nation U.N. Security Council to approve a resolution intended to force Iraq to give up any weapons of mass destruction or face dire consequences.
But France and Russia have resisted, floating rival draft resolutions that eliminate some of the tough U.S. language. All five permanent Council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- have a veto.
The U.S. resolution would give U.N. arms inspectors broad powers to uncover any weapons of mass destruction programs.
It also would declare Iraq in "material breach" of existing U.N. resolutions and warn Iraq of "serious consequences" if it thwarts U.N. weapons inspections -- language Moscow and Paris fear the United States could interpret as a trigger for military action even without a follow-up Security Council resolution.
Iraq agreed to give up chemical, biological and nuclear weapons after the 1991 Gulf War, triggered by its invasion of neighboring Kuwait.
The task of finding such arms was assigned to U.N. weapons inspectors. They left before a 1998 U.S.-British bombing raid, ordered because Iraq was allegedly thwarting their efforts, and have never returned.
A U.S. envoy also heard concerns raised by Gulf Arab allies.
State Department envoy Lincoln Bloomfield said after talks with officials in the United Arab Emirates that he found "a great deal of concern about the security of the region and also the welfare of the people of Iraq."
He said Washington would consult its regional allies before using military facilities there for any attack against Iraq.
Baghdad kept up its war of rhetoric with Washington, accusing it Sunday of trying to intimidate the U.N. Security Council into adopting a new draft resolution that could pave the way for military action.
"The evil American administration is practicing clear terrorism inside and outside the Security Council in order to pass a new draft resolution," said al-Thawra newspaper, the mouthpiece of President Saddam Hussein's ruling Baath Party.
"Each paragraph of the new draft represents a core of tension and an excuse for launching aggression."
President Bush, well used to invective from Iraq, also faced vocal opposition at home Saturday when thousands of Americans marched to oppose any war.
"This is going to be an ugly, unnecessary fight. Most of the world is saying 'no' to it," civil rights leader Jesse Jackson told a crowd at Washington's Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
"Pre-emptive, one-bullet diplomacy, we cannot resort to that."
Organizers said 150,000 people took part in the anti-war protest in the U.S. capital, but witnesses put the number at fewer than 50,000. A river of marchers flowed to the White House to press the case that a war on Iraq would be a tragic mistake.
"George Bush, you can't hide. We charge you with genocide!" chanted the protesters.
Another 40,000 marched in San Francisco, with thousands more demonstrating in Amsterdam, Berlin and other European cities.
Up to 3,000 people marched in a Sunday anti-war demonstration in the Spanish capital Madrid.
Bush was not around to see the White House protest because he was taking part in a summit of Pacific Rim leaders in Mexico.
With a skeptical Mexican President Vicente Fox by his side, Bush repeated that the United States would lead a coalition against Iraq if the United Nations failed to act to ensure Saddam did not possess chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
"If the U.N. won't act, if Saddam Hussein won't disarm, we will lead a coalition to disarm him," Bush said.
'FUNDAMENTAL DECISIONS'
Secretary of State Colin Powell, also in the Mexican beach resort Los Cabos for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, said key decisions had to be made in the next few days.
"We have reached the point where we have to make a few fundamental decisions in the early part of next week and go forward," he said.
"We can't continue to have a debate that never ends."
The United States, with British support, has been pressing for six weeks for the 15-nation U.N. Security Council to approve a resolution intended to force Iraq to give up any weapons of mass destruction or face dire consequences.
But France and Russia have resisted, floating rival draft resolutions that eliminate some of the tough U.S. language. All five permanent Council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- have a veto.
The U.S. resolution would give U.N. arms inspectors broad powers to uncover any weapons of mass destruction programs.
It also would declare Iraq in "material breach" of existing U.N. resolutions and warn Iraq of "serious consequences" if it thwarts U.N. weapons inspections -- language Moscow and Paris fear the United States could interpret as a trigger for military action even without a follow-up Security Council resolution.
Iraq agreed to give up chemical, biological and nuclear weapons after the 1991 Gulf War, triggered by its invasion of neighboring Kuwait.
The task of finding such arms was assigned to U.N. weapons inspectors. They left before a 1998 U.S.-British bombing raid, ordered because Iraq was allegedly thwarting their efforts, and have never returned.
A U.S. envoy also heard concerns raised by Gulf Arab allies.
State Department envoy Lincoln Bloomfield said after talks with officials in the United Arab Emirates that he found "a great deal of concern about the security of the region and also the welfare of the people of Iraq."
He said Washington would consult its regional allies before using military facilities there for any attack against Iraq.
Now that large numbers of protestors have taken to the streets while the international community is frowning upon this unprovoked attack.
This looks like a political suicide for Dubya. Moreso if and when the planned invasion results in large numbers of body bags.
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