CRY HAVOC :

Bush administration preparing to make a case for war with Iraq (Ron Hutcheson, Warren P. Strobel and James Kuhnhenn, September 3, 2002 , Knight Ridder Newspapers)

The Bush administration on Wednesday will launch a concerted effort to prepare the nation and the world for war with Iraq, and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld hinted Tuesday that Bush holds a trump card - new evidence that Iraq is close to developing a nuclear weapon.

Under pressure at home and abroad to justify a war against Iraq, President Bush will meet with congressional leaders from both parties at the White House on Wednesday morning to discuss Iraq. Later that day he will send Rumsfeld to a closed-door briefing on the subject for all 100 senators in a secure room inside the Capitol.

And next week Bush is expected to use a Sept. 12 speech at the United Nations to begin spelling out his grievances against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

"I think you'll see that the president will pull all of these threads together," Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters traveling with him to an international conference on development and the environment in Johannesburg, South Africa. "With respect to what the American position will be, the president will articulate it. He will articulate it fully in the very near future."

Bush speeds up preparations
for war on Iraq (Toby Harnden, 04/09/2002, Daily Telegraph)

President Bush has summoned congressional leaders for top-level talks in the White House today amid clear signals that the United States is accelerating its preparations for war with Iraq.

Mr Bush's meeting with senior Republicans and Democrats is an indication that the president will try to regain control of the fractious debate over Saddam Hussein.

It was announced last night after Mr Bush returned from holiday apparently with a renewed determination to topple Saddam.

White House officials say it is almost certain that Mr Bush will seek the authorisation of Congress to use force against the Iraqi dictator, even though he is probably not legally bound to do so.

There is, of course, a terrible logic to this. Support for the war on terrorism has faded rapidly in all the predictable places--Europe, the media, Congressional Democrats, business oriented Republicans--so if you're president and you believe further war is required you'd better strike as soon as possible. And there'll never be a better time to recrank the war machine than now, while we're commemorating 9-11. Posted by Orrin Judd at September 3, 2002 11:57 PM