U.S. President Bush says U.N. inspections a possibility, but Iraq threat must be dealt with.

WASHINGTON, September 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The United States has reiterated its determination to remove the “grave threat” posed by Iraq’s alleged drive to acquire weapons of mass destruction as U.S. President George W. Bush prepares to state his case for military action to the United Nations.

However, Bush late Wednesday, September 11, said it is ready to make a fresh call on Iraq to admit weapons inspectors while strategists consider setting a deadline with serious consequences if the appeal is rejected, even if old allies withhold support, report news agencies.

U.N. chief Kofi Annan said Wednesday only the U.N. Security Council could provide “the unique legitimacy that one needs to be able to act” against threats to international peace.

“Deliverable weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a terror network or a murderous dictator, or the two working together, constitutes as grave a threat as can be imagined,” U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said.

“The entire world must know that the United States will take whatever action is necessary to defend our freedom and our security,” he said.

In Baghdad, official newspapers said the United States had become even more of a bully instead of rethinking its aggressive policies a year after “God’s punishment” struck New York and Washington in the September 11 terror attacks.

“September 11, God’s punishment,” proclaimed a headline on the cover of the weekly Al-Iqtissadi across a picture of New York’s burning World Trade Center.

“The little Bush and Co. did not draw the right conclusions from the September 11 events, which were the fruit of Washington's aggressive policy against peoples,” said the daily Al-Jumhuriya.

“Instead of rethinking its aggressive policies, the U.S. administration of evil exploited these events to intensify its aggression under the banner of fighting terror,” the paper said.

Meanwhile, on board the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington in the Gulf, senior officers said the U.S. Navy was primed and ready to undertake any mission ordered by Bush.

“Whatever it takes, we’ve got it here,” said Captain Martin Erdossy, commanding officer of the carrier. “We’ll do exactly what the president asks us to.... We’re prepared to do anything, whether small or a major contingency.”

USA Today reported that Bush reached his decision to possibly use force against Iraq without a formal decision-making meeting or the intelligence assessment such a decision normally requires.

Bush already decided that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein should be removed back in November 2001 - and since then, the debate within the administration has been how to accomplish this, the U.S. daily reported.

The decision to target Saddam “kind of evolved, but its not clear and neat,” a senior administration official told the daily, describing it as “policymaking by osmosis.”

Bush himself has stepped up his lobbying ahead of an address to the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday, September 12.

He refused to give details on his speech, which is expected to give evidence backing Western allegations that Iraq is developing weapons of mass destruction.

Bush met Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso Tuesday and spoke with other government leaders as part of his campaign of consultations ahead of announcing whether he will order military action or not.

On Thursday, he is expected to urge the U.N. to end Saddam’s “decade of defiance” of U.N. disarmament rules, warning that nuclear arms could soon be within the Iraqi leader's grasp, according to a senior White House official.

While Bush appeared to be bowing to international pressure to take his case to the United Nations rather than seek swift unilateral action, aides cautioned that he would not hesitate in the face of global inaction.

Annan, speaking to the BBC on the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks, said the U.N. charter gives individual governments the inherent right of self-defense when attacked.

But “when one is trying to deal with the broader threat to international peace and security there is no alternative but to go through the [Security] Council.

“It is only the Council that can provide the unique legitimacy that one needs to be able to act,” he said.

News agencies reported a senior U.S. official as saying that Bush is “going to make clear that the current regime in Iraq is an outlaw regime, that it has defied U.N. resolutions for 11 years now.”

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice put the case in dramatic fashion Sunday, saying that with Iraq building up an arsenal of nuclear and other destructive weapons “we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.”

Russia, which has urged Baghdad to allow the return of U.N. weapons inspectors, also reiterated that a strike against Iraq would jeopardize the U.S.-led coalition against terrorism.

“The fight against terrorism is the key objective facing the global community. Preserving unity within the coalition is crucial. We hope that the United States will act strictly in compliance with the U.N. Security Council’s resolutions,” Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said.

Meanwhile, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton arrived in Moscow for three days of consultations centered on Iraq.

On another front, among a host of world leaders opposed to an attack, Philippine President Gloria Arroyo made clear her country was not ready to back a U.S. military assault on Iraq.

“We are not committed to any war and we have conveyed to the U.S. our request,” Arroyo said, whose country Wednesday ordered the immediate evacuation of its citizens, including non-essential embassy staff and families, from Iraq.

Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said that while the government had no definite information of a U.S. strike, it was better to “err on the side of prudence.”

In Hanoi, Southeast Asian parliamentarians pledged to fight terrorism on the September 11 anniversary, but said they were opposed to unprovoked military action against Iraq.

Jordan, meanwhile, joined Iran in warning it would not accept an influx of refugees from neighboring Iraq in case of military action.

At home, in Congress, House Majority Leader Dick Armey, despite being briefed by Rice and Central Intelligence Agency George J. Tenet, remained unconvinced of Bush’s legal authority to go after Saddam without congressional approval.

“I set the mark very high,” he said. “I will need to see a plan before I will cast a vote. I will need to see it is necessary, and there is a plan that I personally think is fair to the courage we ask of these young people.”

In addition, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) also skeptical of using force, said on Fox TV, “Obviously, we all support a regime change…The question is how do we get it done, at what cost. And by costs I’m not talking financially – I’m talking about unintended consequences, lives, people being thrown into turmoil in other parts of the world.”

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