WASHINGTON – Top Bush foreign-policy aide Condoleezza Rice yesterday said the United States must act against Iraq and kick out “evil” Saddam Hussein before he can “wreak havoc” on the world.
“We certainly do not have the luxury of doing nothing . . . If Saddam Hussein is left in power, doing the things that he’s doing now, this is a threat that will emerge – and emerge in a very big way,” the national-security adviser said.
Rice’s strong words of warning sparked special attention because she is President Bush’s closest foreign-policy adviser, as well as a close friend of both the president and wife Laura, and regularly joins them at Camp David.
Her remarks came amid steady reports suggesting America is preparing for action against Saddam, including a step-up in activity by anti-Saddam Iraqi groups and a reported attack on Saddam’s son.
Bush hasn’t yet decided “how he wants to do it,” Rice told Britain’s BBC Radio – but she stressed that action against Saddam is imperative because he twice came close to acquiring nuclear weapons.
Referring to the Butcher of Baghdad, Rice said, “This is an evil man who, left to his own devices, will wreak havoc again on his own population, his neighbors and – if he gets weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them – on us all.”
But Gulf War commander retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf told MSNBC that America isn’t ready to attack Iraq and first needs “better intelligence” and “a coalition firmly in place.”
He added: “We have to have better intelligence than we have right now, and I think we are in the process of developing that. But until we have better intelligence and better locations, base rights, etc., I don’t think we are ready to go.”