Iraq Has Little Time for Peaceful Disarmament - 2003-01-30

The White House states that the final effort to resolve the Iraq crisis through diplomacy will take weeks, not months. Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, said that President Bush is engaged in active diplomacy to peacefully resolve the Iraq crisis, but this effort will not last more than a month. President Bush is meeting today at the White House with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to discuss the Iraq crisis. The U.S. President will then hold talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and tomorrow will meet with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at his retreat in Camp David. Meanwhile, eleven of the fifteen member countries of the United Nations Security Council have expressed that they want more time given to UN weapons experts in Iraq to complete their mission of finding Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. President Bush stated that he would welcome the idea of Saddam Hussein stepping down from power in Iraq and going into exile. Mr. Bush told reporters at the White House that he hopes the pressure from the free world will convince the Iraqi leader to resign and leave the country. The U.S. President added that even if Saddam Hussein relinquishes power, the goal of disarming Iraq and freeing the country from prohibited weapons of mass destruction will remain in effect.