The United States increased pressure on its allies Tuesday to support military intervention in Iraq regardless of the contents of the upcoming interim report by the U.N. weapons inspectors due Jan. 27.
In direct response to statements from several U.N. Security Council members that indicate there will be significant opposition towards a U.N. war resolution, President Bush said \time is running out"" for Iraq to disarm.
French Foreign Minister Dominuque de Villepin said Tuesday that France would attempt to convince its European neighbors to allow the inspectors more time and have the European Union pledge not to bow to America's desire for war. On Monday de Villepin said France could use its veto power on the Security Council to block any war resolution, while China, Russia and Germany, which has a temporary seat on the Council, said they would also oppose such a measure.
""If war is the only way to resolve this problem, we are going down a dead end,"" de Villepin said Monday. ""Already we know for a fact that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs are being blocked, even frozen.""
In coordination with a White House report called ""Apparatus of Lies"", which details Iraq's violations of human rights and U.N. resolutions, Bush said it was clear to him that Iraq was not following the U.N. mandate to disarm and that military action may be necessary.
""The world came together, including the French, to say he must disarm. He's not disarming,"" Bush said. ""Surely our friends have learned from the past. Surely we have learned how this man deceives and delays. He's giving people the runaround.""
The president also sent two additional aircraft carriers to the Persian Gulf Tuesday, bringing the total to five boats within striking distance of Iraq, along with 37,000 infantry soldiers mobilized earlier this week.
UW-Madison Professor of political science Bruce Cronin said the Bush administration is not concerned with the possible worldwide political ramifications of a unilateral action against Iraq.
""It won't prevent the administration from starting the war, but it could have a tremendous affect on the outcome of the war,"" Cronin said. ""We don't have 100,000 troops in the Persian Gulf ready to go simply to put pressure on the arms inspection.""
