The president said he would unveil proposed language “within the next couple of days” and that lawmakers had agreed to vote on a resolution early next month, before they leave to campaign ahead of the Nov 5 elections.
“It’s an important signal to the world to see that this country is united in our resolve to deal with threats that we face,” he said as he met Republican and Democrat leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives.
It was unclear what the wording of such a resolution would be, and whether it would explicitly condone military action, which White House aides insist Bush has not yet decided to pursue.
“This is an important moment for our country and for the international community to work together,” Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, head of the Democrats, said in the White House driveway after the meeting.
“We’ll work in concert with the administration, Republicans and Democrats, hopefully with a recognition that this ought to be done in the international arena and I am confident that that’s where it will be done,” Daschle added.
Bush, who has warned the United States will act if the United Nations does not, echoed that sentiment, saying he was confident the world will see through Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s announcement that he was ready to re-admit UN arms inspectors without conditions.
“It’s his latest ploy, his latest attempt not to be held accountable for defying the United Nations. He’s not going to fool anybody,” said Bush, who has pledged to push forward with Washington’s policy of “regime change” in Iraq.
“When we continue to make the case about his defiance, his deception, the fact that time and time again, dozens of times he has told the world,‘oh, I will comply’ and he never does, that the nations which long for peace and care about the validity of the United Nations will join us,” he said.
Iraq offered to re-admit UN weapons inspectors in a letter presented on Monday to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, which caused a split among the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council.
Britain and the United States have derided the offer, while China, France and Russia have all indicated their support for giving Iraq another chance to abide by a host of UN resolutions that it had agreed to in order to end the 1991 war.
Bush last week called on the UN Security Council take fresh action demanding that Iraq comply with those resolutions, including some calling for the dismantling of Baghdad’s nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programmes.—AFP