Bush warns of 'massive and sudden horror' Iraq could unleash

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) _ President Bush warned Saturday of the ``massive and sudden horror'' that Iraq could inflict if not disarmed, sharpening his case against Saddam Hussein in advance of a major

Friday, October 4th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) _ President Bush warned Saturday of the ``massive and sudden horror'' that Iraq could inflict if not disarmed, sharpening his case against Saddam Hussein in advance of a major speech Monday.

Bush was working this weekend on a fifth draft of the address to be delivered in Cincinnati, putting the finishing touches on what will likely be a nationally televised address at 8 p.m. EDT. The president and his aides were working on the speech from the Bush family home in Maine.

Bush is trying to build public support for a congressional resolution demanding that Saddam disarm or face U.S.-led military action. He won agreement last week with a bipartisan group of House leaders and the Senate is expected to give him war-making authority, too, though many Democrats are still skeptical.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said he believes the House resolution gives Bush too much latitude to wage war

``The resolution adopted by the leaders ... simply provides the use-of-force resolution and makes reference to 16 U.N. articles'' that Saddam is accused of defying, Daschle said. ``Well, one of those articles is, simply, a return of Kuwaiti prisoners. Well, do we want to use use-of-force in a pre-emptive strike to return Kuwaiti prisoners? I don't think so,'' the senator said in a CNN interview broadcast Saturday.

He also said he was concerned about the implications of striking another nation pre-emptively, whether there is enough evidence that Iraq poses an imminent threat and the difficulties of rebuilding Iraq after a military attack.

Bush, using his second straight radio address to discuss Iraq, said he wants to avoid war but Saddam may force the issue.

``We hope that Iraq complies with the world's demands,'' he said. ``If, however, the Iraqi regime persists in its defiance, the use of force may become unavoidable. Delay, indecision, and inaction are not options for America, because they could lead to massive and sudden horror.''

Later, in an address to National Guardsmen and police officers in New Hampshire, Bush said, ``We cannot ignore history. We must not ignore reality. We must do everything we can to disarm this man before he hurts one single American.''

Bush was careful to balance his aggressive language with a passage calling war a last resort.

``The United States does not desire military conflict, because we know the awful nature of war,'' he said in the radio address. ``Our country values life, and we will never seek war unless it is essential to security and justice.''

Yet, Bush reached for new rhetorical heights to denounce Saddam, paralleling the furious words his father used before going to war with Iraq in 1991.

At a fund-raiser in Boston on Friday, Bush called Saddam a ``cold-blooded'' killer, a phrase he repeatedly has used to denounce the terrorists linked to the 9-11 attacks on the United States.

In a statement that seemed designed to rally the American people to support war, Bush said ``for the sake of our freedom, for the sake of peace, if the United Nations won't make the decision, if Saddam Hussein continues to lie and deceive, the United States will lead a coalition to disarm this man before he harms America.''

Secretary of State Colin Powell, meanwhile, forged an agreement Friday with the chief U.N. weapons inspector to defer searching for illicit arms in Iraq until tough new rules are imposed.

Powell acknowledged it might take a long time to persuade the Security Council to adopt a resolution proposed by the United States. But, he told reporters in Washington, ``I'm confident we'll find a way to resolve the differences that exist.''

Chief among them is refusal of France and Russia to threaten Iraq with war if it refuses to disarm. Powell said the warning was essential and must be adopted.

The chief U.N. inspector, Hans Blix, registered his support.

Blix has already arranged with Iraq to resume inspections in about two weeks. But after meeting with Powell and other senior administration officials, he said: ``It would be awkward for us to go in and then find there was a new resolution.''

Powell, who had been trying to put the brakes on the return of the inspection teams until they were promised unfettered access to all sites, welcomed Blix's comments.

``If the inspectors are going to go back in, they have to go back in without any restrictions on what they can do,'' Powell said.

A new report by U.S. intelligence agencies backed the administration's contention that Iraq had significant caches of dangerous weapons despite numerous international searches.

The agencies said Iraq has biological and chemical weapons and some long-range missiles, but probably no nuclear weapons. ``If left unchecked, it probably will have a nuclear weapon during this decade,'' the unclassified report concluded.