Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday January 25, 2003
Waiting to Dance
Jean Chrétien has cast doubt on whether Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction, a position that puts Canada at odds with the United States and Great Britain.
“I don’t know if Saddam has these weapons,” Mr. Chrétien said in a weekend interview with the Financial Times of London. In the interview, he took credit for convincing George W. Bush, the U.S. President, to win United Nations approval to dispatch weapons inspection teams to Iraq before launching military action.
”I said to Bush when we met in Detroit [last fall] after his Camp David meeting with Tony Blair –no argument, you must go to the UN Security Council. And he went to the Council.”
The Bush administration opted for weapons inspections on the insistence of France, Russia and China, three of the five permanent members of the Security Council who objected to military action unless there was evidence showing Iraq was a danger to the international community. The United States and Britain are the other permanent members. (CP)