Nation & world briefing Oregon Daily Emerald - Wednesday, February 19, 2003 - 3
Bush calls anti-war protests irrelevant
Ron Hutcheson, Diego Ibarguen
and Martin Merzer
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
WASHINGTON — President
Bush dismissed last weekend’s mass
antiwar protests as well-intentioned
but irrelevant — the equivalent of a
marketing “focus group” — as the
Defense Department ordered anoth
er 20,000 U.S. troops to the Persian
Gulf region Tuesday.
About 150,000 troops already are
in place for a possible attack on Iraq,
but the United States and Britain de
cided Tuesday to confront skeptics
and propose one last United Nations
resolution demanding that Iraq dis
arm, officials of both nations said.
At the White House, Bush said
“democracy is a beautiful thing”
and he supported the dissenters’
right to express their views. But he
also said the protests wouldn’t influ
ence his decisions or those of
British Prime Minister Tony Blair,
his closest ally.
“You know, the size of protests is
like deciding, well, I’m going to de
cide policy based upon a focus
group,” Bush said. “The role of a
leader is to decide policy based
upon the security — in this case,
the security of the people.”
At the same time, the United
States and Britain continued to pur
sue diplomacy at the United Nations,
despite Tuesday’s resumption there
of speeches generally critical of the
U.S. position. But the diplomatic ef
fort isn’t likely to delay U.S. military
plans more than a few days, “if at
all,” one senior administration offi
cial said on condition of anonymity.
“The administration is commit
ted to going forward,” said White
House spokesman Ari Fleischer.
He said a new resolution — “sim
ple and rather straightforward” —
would be proposed to the U.N. Secu
rity Council as early as Wednesday
or as late as next week. Other U.S.
officials, citing British pressures,
predicted it would be offered Friday
or Monday.
Bush summed up the delicate
balance between diplomacy and
war this way:
“War is my last choice. But the
risk of doing nothing is even a worse
option, as far as I’m concerned. I
owe it to the American people to se
cure this country. I will do so.”
He said a new resolution “would
be useful,” but he left the door open
to act without one in case the effort
falls short.
“We don’t need a second resolu
tion,” he said. “It’s clear this guy
(Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein)
could even care less about the first
resolution.”
White House officials declined to
discuss the resolution’s proposed
wording, but Fleischer said Bush
would insist on language that fol
lowed through on U.N. Resolution
1441, which the U.N. approved in
November. That resolution gave
Hussein a “final opportunity” to dis
arm and warned of “serious conse
quences” if he didn’t comply.
“The key thing that the president
wants to have in there is that it en
forces Resolution 1441, making
clear that ‘final’ meant ‘final’ and
‘serious consequences’ meant ‘seri
ous consequences,”’ Fleischer said.
In London, Blair signaled that the
decision on a new resolution had
been made.
“I want a second resolution if we
go to military action, and I still think
there is a lot of debate to go on before
we get to the point of decision there
in the United Nations,” Blair said.
Both nations suffered a setback
Friday at the U.N. Security Council,
when U.N. weapons inspectors re
ported modest but continuing
progress in Iraq, and opponents of a
military attack mustered consider
able support.
An open debate on Iraq unfolded
at the United Nations, as about 60
countries that aren’t on the 15
member Security Council ex
pressed their views.
Such an open debate has no offi
cial effect on the council, and the
meeting served largely as another
forum for those who want to contin
ue U.N. weapons inspections and
slow the drive toward war.
Even Iran, which Iraq attacked
with chemical weapons in the
1980s, argued that every effort
should be made to avoid war.
“The prospect of another destabi
lizing war in our immediate vicinity
is a nightmare scenario of death and
destruction,” Iranian Ambassador
Javad Zarif said.
© 2003, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services. Hutcheson
reported from Washington, Ibarguen
from the United Nations, Merzer from
Washington. Knight Ridder Newspapers
correspondent Warren P. Strobe!
contributed to this report from the
State Department
INS extends registration deadline for next round
jack Chang
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
WALNUT GREEK, Calif. — Male
visitors to the United States from a
group of Muslim countries have been
allowed another month to comply
with a controversial registration pro
gram or face possible deportation,
the Immigration and Naturalization
Service announced Tuesday.
Men over 16 from Pakistan and
Saudi Arabia have until March 21 to
register with their local INS office, a
full month after the original dead
line. U.S. citizens, permanent resi
dents, refugees and asylum appli
cants and recipients are excluded
from the requirement.
Men over 16 from Bangladesh,
Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan and
Kuwait have also received a dead
line extension. Originally required
to check in with the authorities by
March 28, nationals from those five
countries can register between Feb.
24 and April 23.
The registration requirement only
applies to people who entered the
United States before last October.
The Pakistani government has
expressed its objections to the U.S.
program requiring its nationals to
register. The arrests of hundreds of
Iranians complying with the
program in Southern California in
December triggered protests from
"The Pakistani
government did not
want Pakistan to be on
this list because we are
an ally in the war
against terrorism"
Raana Rahim
Pakistani genera! consul
immigrant groups.
“The Pakistani government did
not want Pakistan to be on this list
because we are an ally in the war
against terrorism,” said Raana
Rahim, Pakistani general consul in
Los Angeles.
“What we also told the U.S. gov
ernment is Pakistanis are contribut
§11 tremendously to the economic
prosperity of the United States. Its a
Very good and very hard-working
community that has a very low
crime rate.”
An INS press release skid the
deadline extensions were issued
“in response to requests for more
time from different individuals
and entities.”
INS spokeswoman Sharon Ruhit
mery, based in San Francisco, said she
did not know what individuals and en
tities the press release referred to.
Advocates for immigrants and
civil libertarians have condemned
the registration program as a dis
criminatory targeting of Middle
Eastern men, while INS officials
have defended it as a necessary
national security measure.
Previous registration deadlines af
fected men from Afghanistan, Alge
ria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq,
Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, North Ko
rea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Sudan,
Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates
and Yemen.
© 2003, Contra Costa Times (Walnut
Creek, Calif.), Distributed by Knight
Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
Former Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun to run for president
Dan Mihalopoulos
Chicago Tribune (KRT)
CHICAGO — Surrounded by
friends and family members waving
“Ms. President” placards, former
Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois
officially announced her entry into
the 2004 Democratic presidential
race Tuesday.
“It’s time to take the ‘men only’
sign off the White House door,”
Moseley-Braun said as she kicked off
her campaign at the University of
Chicago Law School.
The snowstorm that closed gov
ernment offices in Washington
spoiled her plans to file paperwork
creating a presidential exploratory
committee with the Federal Election
Committee. Moseley-Braun said she
would formally join the otherwise all
male field of Democratic hopefuls as
soon as government offices reopen.
She also plans speeches later this
week in Washington, including an
appearance at a meeting of the De
mocratic National Committee.
Moseley-Braun said her explorato
ry committee includes Reps. Danny
Davis, D-Ill,, and Bobby Rush, D-Ill.;
Illinois Senate President Emil Jones,
D-Chicago; Cook County Board
President John Stroger; former U.S.
Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill.; and activist
and writer Gloria Steinem.
Although some backers concede
she is highly unlikely to emerge atop
a Democratic field now numbering
eight, Moseley-Braun insisted she
was getting in the race to win.
“I have every hope and every ex
pectation that this will be a success
ful effort,” she said. “I’m running for
president. I’m not running just to be
another pretty face.”
Still, Moseley-Braun cautioned
that she was not sure she would be
in the race when the presidential
caucuses and primaries begin in Jan
uary. She said she would barnstorm
the country before deciding by Sep
tember whether to press her cam
paign for the Oval Office.
Moseley-Braun began testing the
appeal of her anti-war message dur
ing speeches Saturday, Sunday and
Monday in Iowa, New Hampshire
and South Carolina. Those states
will hold the first caucuses and pri
maries of the 2004 campaign.
“This is just an exploratory com
mittee,” she said. “By the fall, I will
have concluded, with my commit
tee, whether an actual campaign for
the presidency is sensible.”
Moseley-Braun won election as
the first black woman senator in
1992 after unseating Alan Dixon in a
Democratic primary upset. Her
tenure in Washington lasted only
one term, with Republican Peter
Fitzgerald defeating her in 1998.
President Bill Clinton then ap
pointed her U.S. ambassador to New
Zealand, a post she held two years.
Since returning from New Zealand in
2000, she has stayed out of politics.
© 2003, Chicago Tribune. Distributed
by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information
Services.
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Each d<
food to
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against hunger in LautCounty.
You can help fight hunger In Lane County by donating even
one dollar to the Governor’s Food Drive until February 28.
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