The House majority leader, Representative Dick Armey, warned on Thursday that an unprovoked attack against Iraq would violate international law and undermine world support for US President George W. Bush's goal of ousting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
The remarks by Armey, a Texas Republican who is retiring this year, are the most prominent sign of congressional unease that the administration is moving rapidly toward a war against Iraq, and were especially striking coming from a leading conservative and a staunch Bush ally.
Armey's comments came on a day when Saddam took to the airwaves in Baghdad for a fiery diatribe against a possible invasion, calling the US and its allies "the forces of evil."
"If we try to act against Saddam Hussein, as obnoxious as he is, without proper provocation, we will not have the support of other nation states who might do so," Armey told reporters in Des Moines during a campaign swing for a House candidate.
"I don't believe that America will justifiably make an unprovoked attack on another nation," Armey said. "It would not be consistent with what we have been as a nation or what we should be as a nation."
"My own view would be to let him bluster, let him rant and rave all he wants and let that be a matter between he and his own country," Armey said in response to a reporter's question. "As long as he behaves himself within his own borders, we should not be addressing any attack or resources against him."
Bush has repeatedly stated that the administration's goal is to overthrow Saddam, in large part because of the threat Iraq's suspected programs to acquire chemical, biological and nuclear weapons pose to its neighbors as well as to US and allied forces in the region. Armey did not directly address the issue of what the US should do if it was determined that Iraq was continuing to build weapons of mass destruction.
Bush has carefully sidestepped the question of how and when the administration would accomplish its goal of ousting Saddam even as senior military commanders have presented options to the president and his top aides that range from invading Iraq with as many as 250,000 troops, to one involving 80,000 to 100,000 troops swooping in on Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, and other military centers in hopes of quickly collapsing the government.
Bush pledged this week that he would consult with Congress before ordering any invasion, but he stopped short of promising to ask for a vote authorizing an attack.
In Baghdad, Saddam organized a large military parade on Thursday to celebrate the anniversary of the end of the 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran war, and then delivered a television speech in which he warned "the forces of evil" not to attack Iraq.
Saddam has refused to deal with UN weapons inspectors since they left nearly four years ago and Iraq remains under UN sanctions imposed at the time it invaded Kuwait in 1990.
Iraq recently sent letters inviting UN officials and members of Congress to visit Iraq for talks, but lawmakers and UN officials rebuked the offer saying it was an attempt to circumvent the existing conditions for the return of inspectors.
A White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said Saddam's speech did not alter Bush's view of Iraq.
"The Iraqi government needs to comply with the responsibilities it agreed to at the end of the Gulf War," McClellan said.
The White House had little reaction to Armey's comments. "The president has not decided on a particular course of action and is keeping all his options open," McClellan said. "Beyond that, it's speculating about hypotheticals."
Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have both said recently that the return of international inspectors to Iraq would not be enough to eliminate Saddam's hidden arsenal. Rumsfeld said Iraq's actions to conceal weapons laboratories underground and put them on mobile trailers might make inspections useless.
On Thursday, Armey said that the failure to resume international arms inspections inside Iraq would be insufficient grounds for war.
"In my estimation, it is not enough reason to go in, that he does not allow weapons inspections," Armey said. "What if the French decided they wanted to inspect American military facilities?"
Armey said he had supported the Persian Gulf war. But in this case, he said that basic principles of international law apply, and that attacking Iraq without a specific provocation would violate those norms.
"He has a right to hold dominion within his own national boundaries, as obnoxious as he is and as comical as he can be," Armey said. "He is what we in Texas know as a blowhard, he can't help himself."
Other prominent Republicans, including senators Richard Lugar and Chuck Hagel, have said recently that the conditions for a pre-emptive strike against Iraq are not yet in place. They and other lawmakers from both parties have recommended other steps first, including stricter enforcement of the no-flight zones.
The navy has installed 13 Phalanx Block 1B close-in weapons systems on its warships, increasing their defensive firepower, a defense official said on Saturday. The systems cost the navy NT$10.16 billion (US$314.67 million), while eight additional Block 1A systems are being upgraded in the US and are expected to be delivered next year, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Phalanx system used by Taiwan to defend its warships and key radar installations is a radar-cued gun system capable of firing 4,500 rounds a minute at targets as far away as 1.5km, the official said. With their superior range of
RACE FOR CHIPS: The Dresden site would help Europe reduce its reliance on Asia for semiconductors, while Germany aims to produce one-fifth of the world’s chips by 2030 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday broke ground in Dresden, Germany, on its first European plant as the continent seeks to safeguard its chip supplies amid growing US-China tensions. TSMC chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) attended the event, together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and the heads of Infineon Technologies AG, NXP Semiconductors NV and Robert Bosch GmbH, which each hold a 10 percent stake in the venture. TSMC owns a 70 percent stake in the plant. “Together with our partners, Bosch, Infineon and NXP, we are building our Dresden facility to meet the
‘CLOSE TIES’: Former Japanese PM Yoshihiko Noda also attended the annual Ketagalan Forum on Indo-Pacific security and spoke of Taiwan’s importance globally China’s authoritarian expansionism would not stop with Taiwan, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, calling for solidarity among the world’s democracies to check Beijing’s territorial ambitions. Taiwan is determined to become a decisive force for democracy, peace and prosperity, standing side-by-side with its democratic partners to confront authoritarian expansionism and protect shared values, he told the annual Ketagalan Forum on Indo-Pacific security in Taipei. Authoritarianism is now a global challenge, Lai said, using as examples Chinese military expansionism, economic coercion and the use of hybrid warfare tactics such as cyberattacks and cognitive warfare. “We are all fully aware that China’s growing authoritarianism will
RECOVERY: Overall, average income across all age groups increased, climbing to a record NT$709,000 last year, on the back of an improved economy, the DGBAS said Taiwanese workers under the age of 30 last year, on average, earned an annual income of NT$545,931 (US$17,044), a new high, as the economy continued to improve, data released by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed. That equated to monthly earnings of NT$45,494 per person, and marked an increase from NT$535,667 in 2022, the data showed. In addition to an improved economy, average incomes rose as the unemployment rate declined and the minimum wage rose, the statistics agency said. Overall, average income in Taiwan also hit a new record of NT$709,000 last year, up from NT$704,000 in 2022, the data