The White House has welcomed Britain's "frightening" dossier on Iraqi arms programs as evidence of the need to oust Saddam Hussein and dismissed critics who say the study lacks new evidence or a "smoking gun."
|
|
President George W. Bush speaks to reporters after holding a cabinet meeting at the White House.
|
"The problem with smoking guns is they only smoke after they're fired, and we don't want to let Saddam Hussein fire any more weapons," said Mr Ari Fleischer, chief spokesman for US President George W Bush.
Earlier, the British government alleged in a much-anticipated 55-page dossier that Iraq could be just a year or two away from having a nuclear bomb and could deploy chemical and biological weapons in no more than 45 minutes.
"The dossier they released is, I think, frightening," said Mr Fleischer. "This reinforces the very sizable doubts that people around the world have about whether Saddam Hussein has any interest in peace."
"When people hear of Saddam Hussein's intentions, his abilities and his history, this report offers more evidence to the fact that the world does indeed have something to fear from the threat that Saddam Hussein poses."
Mr Fleischer said Washington concurs with London's findings and downplayed British Prime Minister Tony Blair's focus on disarming Iraq, saying it did not reflect a break between the two allies on the US push for "regime change."
"I don't think there's any difference between these two," the spokesman said as Mr Bush prepared to discuss Iraq during a meeting at the White House with his cabinet.
AFP