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You could say, Bush was just too eager to continue Clinton's policy.
That's the worst thing you could say. Saddam finally found out that you
can only step on a sleeping dog's tail so many times before you're
going to need some stitches in your ass.

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Clinton demands total access for U.N. arms inspectors
February 17, 1998
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9802/17/iraq.clinton/

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. President Clinton said Tuesday that Washington
still favors a diplomatic solution to the Iraq crisis, but stressed
that any solution must include free and unfettered access for U.N.
weapons inspectors.

"A diplomatic solution must include, or meet, a clear, immutable,
reasonable, simple standard: Iraq must agree -- and soon -- to free,
full, unfettered access to these (inspection) sites anywhere in the
country," Clinton said.

Clinton spoke at the Pentagon, after military leaders briefed him on
preparations for possible strikes. Accompanying him were Vice President
Al Gore, Secretary of Defense William Cohen and Joint Chiefs of Staff
Chairman Gen. Hugh Shelton.

The president urged Americans to be ready for a possible attack on
Iraq, and he warned that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had used
biological weapons against his own people -- and would likely use the
weapons again unless he were prevented from doing so.

Hussein, said the president, "threatens the security of all the rest of
us."

Clinton said Hussein and the Iraqi leadership had repeatedly lied to
the United Nations about the country's weaponry.

"It is obvious that there is an attempt here based on the whole history
of this (weapons inspections) operation since 1991 to protect whatever
remains of his capacity to produce weapons of mass destruction, the
missiles to deliver them and the feedstock necessary to produce them,"
Clinton said.

The president said that after the Gulf War ended in 1991, Iraq admitted
having a massive offensive biological warfare capability, including:

5,000 gallons of Botulinum (causing Botulism)
2,000 gallons of Anthrax
25 biological-filled Scud warheads
157 aerial bombs

Clinton said Iraq still posed a threat to the national security of the
United States and the "freedom-loving world."


'He ... will be to blame for the consequences'


He accused Iraq of trying to thwart U.N. inspections by reinterpreting
the meaning of Gulf War resolutions as to which sites can be inspected,
for how long and by which inspectors.

Clinton, who has ordered military forces to the gulf region in case a
military strike is needed, warned Hussein not to continue to delay or
oppose the U.N. demands on weapons inspections: "He, and he alone, will
be to blame for the consequences."

The president said the U.S. had the military means to achieve the
objective and secure the "vital strategic interests" of the United
States in the Gulf region.

"A military operation cannot destroy all the weapons of mass
destruction capacity. But it can, and will, leave him (Hussein)
significantly worse off than he is now, in terms of the ability to
threaten the world with these weapons or to attack his neighbors,"
Clinton said.

"Force can never be the first answer," he emphasized, "but sometimes
it's the only answer."


Annan trip to Baghdad expected


Iraq, meantime, pledged to make "all serious and legitimate" efforts to
peacefully resolve the crisis.

A statement issued by Hussein's Revolutionary Command Council said Iraq
hopes U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will "come here with an open
mind and free will" to conduct talks.

Annan, who planned to consult later Tuesday with the five permanent
members of the Security Council, is expected to travel to Baghdad later
in the week, diplomatic sources told CNN. They said Annan would be
carrying a document clearly specifying "red lines beyond which Annan
cannot go" in talks with Iraqi officials.

The document is described by one source as "tactical advice" from the
council's permanent members to Annan. Under it, Annan could offer
Hussein the prospect of modifying the inspection system for strictly
residential buildings within Iraq's so-called "presidential" sites, and
perhaps to leave some strictly residential buildings uninspected.

Reacting to Clinton's speech, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz
denounced the threat of military action.

"The United States doesn't have authorization by the Security Council
to attack Iraq by military means," he told CNN in a telephone interview
from Baghdad.

Washington insists U.N. resolutions in effect since the Gulf War
provide all the authorization needed for an attack.

Aziz also rejected the U.S. assertion that Iraq's weapons of mass
destruction are a threat to neighboring countries.

"Among all our neighbors, only Kuwait has joined the American plan to
attack Iraq," he said. "So if all our neighbors are really threatened
by us, why didn't they join the (U.S.-led) coalition."