White House: Iraq still has 'off ramp' on road to war
From John King
CNN Washington Bureau
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President Bush met Tuesday with a U.N. Security Council supporter, the prime minister of Bulgaria.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush met Tuesday with a Security Council supporter as the White House said there is still an "off ramp" to avoid war: a decision by Iraq to immediately and fully comply with the United Nation's disarmament demands.
But U.S. officials said they are certain Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein will not accept the terms of Resolution 1441, and war planning is intensifying.
In addition to an Oval Office meeting with Bulgaria's prime minister, Bush's morning also included a regularly scheduled National Security Council meeting in which officials said there was discussion of the Iraq situation as well as North Korea's firing of a missile into the Sea of Japan.
Press Secretary Ari Fleischer characterized the missile firing as an attempt by North Korea to get attention as South Korea inaugurated its new president.
Fleischer said some nations "send flowers or a bouquet or visiting dignitaries" to mark such an event, but North Korea "sent a short-range cruise missile. This is why North Korea finds itself so isolated among the nations of the world."
He went on to call it "North Korea's way of saying 'please pay me'" and said Bush would not reward what he considers bad behavior by offering the Pyongyang regime money.
On Iraq, Fleischer said Bush was confident that in the end the U.N. Security Council would pass the U.S.-backed resolution introduced Monday.
"The president has traveled this route before," Fleischer said, recalling the political dynamic at the Security Council in the days and hours before Resolution 1441 was passed back in November.
Fleischer voiced some bewilderment at questions about a Washington Post report that, quoting anonymous sources, said the administration's argument in making the case for the resolution would be to say that the credibility of the Security Council is at stake.
Fleischer said Bush has made that point "abundantly clear" and "as plain as day" in his public speeches on the Iraq debate since he first went to the United Nations to speak on Iraq in September.
U.S. officials now say they see little hope war can be avoided. Fleischer did not dispute that, but echoed comments made earlier in the day by British Prime Minister Tony Blair in saying that Saddam had the power to avert war.
"There remains an off ramp," Fleischer told reporters. He said there would be no war if Iraq "completely and totally and verifiably disarmed for the United Nations Security Council."
