No need for War : PM tells Americans.

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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No need for war, PM tells Americans
U.S. has already `won,’ Chrétien says Interview with ABC set to air today

TIM HARPER
OTTAWA BUREAU CHIEF

OTTAWA—Prime Minister Jean Chrétien will tell Americans in a nationally televised interview today that their government has already won the standoff with Iraq by pressuring Saddam Hussein to disarm.

There is no need to take military action, Chrétien says in a 15-minute interview with ABC television taped yesterday at his home near Shawinigan, Que.

“You won,” Chrétien tells interviewer George Stephanopoulos.

The Prime Minister was speaking the day after chief United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix and his nuclear counterpart, Mohamed ElBaradei, told the U.N. significant progress was being made in disarming Saddam’s regime in Baghdad.

Chrétien said U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair should be applauded for keeping the pressure on Iraq by mobilizing forces in the region, which now number about 250,000 troops, backed by 700 warplanes and six naval battle groups.

But with the military pressure yielding results, Chrétien said, there is no need for military action.

Weapons inspectors are doing their job and should be allowed to continue, he said.

Chrétien also stressed he **did not back Bush’s goal of “regime change,” **a comment the Prime Minister first made a week ago during a visit to Mexico City.

He told Stephanopoulos, a one-time adviser to former U.S. president Bill Clinton, it would be a mistake for the United States to go to war without U.N. backing.

He also said the so-called Canadian compromise diplomatic effort, setting a goal for disarmament progress but threatening consequences, was the basis for the amendment introduced by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw at Friday’s U.N. session.

That amendment sets March 17 as a deadline for Saddam to show Iraq is fully disarming.

The interview is significant because it marks the first time Chrétien, seen by many in the United States to be waffling, has had an opportunity to speak to such a large audience south of the border.
Source: Toronto Star

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Let the PM's office know what you feel about Canada's position vis-a-vis regime change and weapons inspections. It's important they know that some Canadians, at least, support their position; this is an important step on the part of the PM - we should make him feel that there is a fair number of Canadians who stand behind him. Call/e-mail/fax/write/phone them.

[email protected]
[email protected] (Department of Foreign Affairs)
[email protected] (Foreign Affairs Minister, Bill Graham)

Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa
K1A 0A2
Fax: 613-941-6900

Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Lester B. Pearson Building
125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2
Tel: 1-800-267-8376 (toll-free)

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“Former President Says Conflict Would Wound U.S. Stature”

China Lauds Inspections; Carter Against War](http://www.clickondetroit.com/sh/news/stories/nat-news-202828220030309-080308.html) WDIV Local 4 09 Mar 03

**China and former President Carter are both coming out against the prospect of war in Iraq. China says United Nations weapons inspections in Iraq are working. In a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Chinese President Jiang Zemin says inspectors should take “as much time as is needed” to avoid war.

Jiang told Blair that “war is to no one’s advantage.” He called on the world community to “strengthen” arms inspections and that defusing the crisis was possible “within the framework of the United Nations.”** Britain has been Washington’s biggest supporter in preparing for a possible war with Iraq. Friday, Britain suggested Baghdad have until March 17 to reveal any weapons programs.

Carter Sees No Case For ‘Just War’
Former President Jimmy Carter is weighing in on a potential war against Iraq. In an op-ed piece in Sunday’s New York Times, Carter says a unilateral attack is against his “basic religious principles” and would not be a “just war.” Carter suggests that all diplomatic options to avoid war have not yet been exhausted. And he says the Bush administration has been “unconvincing” in its attempts to tie Iraq to al-Qaida.

Carter, winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, writes that “American stature will surely decline further” if the United States invades Iraq. He also says that a war would increase the likelihood of terrorist strikes in the United States.

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Amazing how Canadian politicians are so different from American politicians.