In the wake of President Bush’s bellicose and condescending speech to the United Nations last week — “We want the United Nations to be effective and respectful and successful,” Bush said, presumably a Freudian slip for “respected” — the administration continued to demand immediate action from both the U.N. and the U.S. Congress, although it appears intent on going to war with or without national and international approval. A senior Bush aide told The New York Times that “This time there will be no negotiation with Saddam Hussein,” an ultimatum that has been somewhat stymied by Iraq’s decision — after heavy prodding from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and neighboring Arab states — to re-admit U.N. weapons inspectors “without preconditions.”
But while arrangements between the U.N. and Iraqi officials began, White House spokesman Scott McClellan dismissed the Iraqi decision as “a tactic that will fail,” and in subsequent speeches the president has reiterated that military force is the only real option. U.S. officials said they would try to delay the inspectors’ travel to Iraq until unspecified additional conditions are added to the inspections. In a curious boxing analogy, Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters that Saddam Hussein “has a history of playing rope-a-dope with the world” –referring to Muhammad Ali’s legendary tactic against the more powerful George Foreman, who Ali knocked out to regain the world championship in Zaire in 1974. (Apparently no reporter was brave enough to recall to Fleischer that outcome.) The U.S. is also in a hurry because administration sources admit frankly they want to be in action in January and February, when weather in Iraq is cool enough to allow soldiers to wear full protective gear.
But if the U.N. appears to be confounding, or at least delaying, the administration’s determination to go to full-scale war (the continuing attacks by U.S. and British bombers on “no-fly zones” have already been stepped up), Congress appears more malleable. The Democratic congressional leadership was quick to praise Bush’s speech, and Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle predicted a vote to approve military action “well before the [November] election.” Daschle said that since Bush had consulted the U.N. and Congress, “now we are reciprocating.”
Not every congressman is eager to climb on the war bandwagon, but substantive opposition appears quite minimal — most Congressmembers have been mollified by the administration’s agreement to “consult.” Austin Rep. Lloyd Doggett said that after the U.N. speech, “a small number of Democrats [met] to explore how best to expand the number of Members who would be willing to step forward publicly with their reservations about an invasion.” At least initially, Doggett was the only Texan among that small group, and the Dem leadership continues to fall in line behind the administration’s demands for war.
This article appears in September 20 • 2002.
