ZAGREB, March 20 (Hina) - Several days before his inauguration, in January 2001, the then newly-elected US President George W. Bush indicated that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would mark his presidential mandate.
ZAGREB, March 20 (Hina) - Several days before his inauguration, in
January 2001, the then newly-elected US President George W. Bush
indicated that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would mark his
presidential mandate. #L#
Bush stated at the time that Hussein's money should be controlled
and care taken that he did not develop weapons of mass destruction.
Asked whether he could use military force against the Iraqi leader,
Bush answered affirmatively.
About a year ago, the paper Philadelphia Inquirer claimed that Bush
had decided to topple Saddam and had ordered the CIA, Pentagon and
other US agencies to make plans to that effect. The paper said the
question no longer was whether one should get rid of Saddam as the
discussion on that matter was finished and added that Washington
was ready to act without the support of its allies.
After months of trying to win the support of the United Nations, his
allies in NATO, countries which have recently been invited to join
NATO and those who still have not, as well as of Arab countries, in
March this year Bush decided to put his plan in action. He advocated
a new resolution of the U.N. Security Council which would
implicitly allow the use of force.
What also links Bush and Iraq, a country whose oil reserves are
among the largest in the world, and what prompted media speculation
is the question of whether it was weapons of mass destruction or
rather oil control that made Bush enter a new war, the second in his
mandate, following the war in Afghanistan, prompted by the
September 11 tragedy.
Bush made a fortune in oil business.
A Yale University graduate, who earned his master's degree at
Harvard Business School, established and ran a small oil company in
Midland for more than ten years.
He became politically active while working in his father's
electoral headquarters in 1988.
During the Vietnam War he was a reserve F-102 fighter pilot.
He is also famous for his linguistic blunders, and recently one of
the more quoted ones has been his call for a "crusade" after the
terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
(hina) rml sb