President Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair stood shoulder to shoulder Thursday in warning Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein that he faces military action if he refuses to allow UN inspectors to search for weapons of mass destruction.
Standing next to Clinton in front of the Oval Office fireplace, the British leader said, “All of our experience of Saddam Hussein teaches us that diplomacy has very little chance of working unless . . . the threat and reality of force is there.”
“Nothing is inevitable here,” Clinton added. “No one wants this. This is about trying to protect our children and their world in the next century from chemical and biological weapons.”
European officials said Thursday that Hussein might allow inspections at 45 “sensitive sites” in his country, but U.S. and British officials rejected the offer as inadequate.
As a further sign of his seriousness, Clinton is sending the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit to the Persian Gulf region from the Mediterranean as “an added deterrent,” a Defense Department official said.
The 2,000 Marines in the force are aboard a four-ship fleet led by the USS Guam, an amphibious assault vessel. The unit has about two dozen attack and support helicopters, amphibious assault vehicles and a small number of combat aircraft. The unit would bring U.S. forces in the region to about 30,000.
The British aircraft carrier Invincible also is in the gulf region to serve notice to Iraq that “no light” separates the U.S. and Britain when it comes to standing up to Hussein, according to a White House official.
Asked if London would join the U.S. in any military strike on Iraq, a spokesman for Blair said, “I don’t think there’d be much doubt about that.”
Clinton said the U.S. would not attempt the “political killing” of Hussein, but he added: “Would the Iraqis be better off if there were a change in leadership? I certainly think they would be.”
During a day of substance and ceremony, Clinton and Blair adopted a three-part strategy for dealing with Iraq.
The first part is to educate their citizens about the threat Hussein poses; the second is to pursue a peaceful solution through diplomacy; and the third is to prepare for a military strike.
Blair arrived in Washington late Wednesday and was formally welcomed to the White House by the president Thursday morning. The two leaders then had a working lunch in the Oval Office dining room for an hour and 40 minutes; the bulk of that time was devoted to Iraq.
As they spoke, they could hear Elton John on the West Terrace of the White House as he rehearsed for a state dinner held in Blair’s honor Thursday night.
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On Capitol Hill, House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) demanded Congress be allowed to vote before the U.S. takes any military action against Iraq. “Congress should be involved in a decision to go to war,” said Gephardt, who is considered to be a likely candidate for president in 2000.
A presidential spokesman brushed aside the notion of a congressional vote, saying, “The administration believes that we have ample authority in existing law to address the present crisis.” He added, “We would always welcome expressions of support from our Congress.”
That support will not be coming this week. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said that “it might be in our best interest to keep our powder dry” until Congress has a clearer idea of precisely what action Clinton is contemplating. Daschle agreed to put off a resolution supporting the administration until next week.
Foreign powers continued to be divided as to the wisdom of confronting Iraq with force, with Russia and France urging more negotiations and the U.S. and Britain preparing for airstrikes.
Saudi Arabia is allowing U.S. and British aircraft to fly over its territory as part of the buildup, but a Western diplomat said the Saudis have not said whether they will allow bases in their country to be used for strikes against Iraq or whether they will allow foreign warplanes to cross Saudi airspace in the case of military action.
In Baghdad, Hussein ordered the release of all Arab prisoners held in Iraq, a move that appeared aimed at winning Arab sympathy.
Hussein also met with a procession of diplomats hoping to broker a resolution to the crisis.
In Moscow, Russian President Boris Yeltsin said his government’s diplomatic efforts were paying dividends. For the second successive day, he declared that U.S. military action “would mean world war,” a warning that U.S. officials are downplaying.
“We must not allow a strike by force, an American strike. I told Clinton about it: No, we shall not allow that,” Yeltsin said.
Yeltsin said France and Italy supports Moscow’s view and that Britain, which backs the U.S., is “wobbling a bit.”
French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine made clear that France will not join in any U.S.-led strike against Iraq now, telling Europe 1 radio that diplomatic means to pressure Baghdad remain. An airstrike, he said, “would not resolve the problems.”
Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen, speaking on state-run television, said he told Secretary of State Madeleine Albright that any military strike could make matters worse.
The aircraft carrier Independence reached the gulf Thursday.
About 20 U.S. combat vessels are in the region, along with nearly 400 warplanes, more than 150 of them aboard the aircraft carriers Nimitz, George Washington and Independence.
Clinton is considering a request from Gen. Anthony Zinni, commander of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf, to send additional F-117A stealth fighters and heavy B-52 bombers, but the orders have not been signed, a Pentagon official said.
The president said that, while military action is not inevitable, the use of force is “up to Saddam Hussein.”
“I do not want a conflict; I don’t believe the prime minister (Blair) wants conflict,” Clinton said. But he added that Hussein has been “aggressively pursuing a weapons of mass destruction program . . . as well as the capability to deliver them by missile.” Clinton said that could not be tolerated.
The president began his day by speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast, asking for the prayers of the American people “that I and we might act justly and love mercy and walk humbly with our God.”