Iraq: US drops N-bomb threat to pick up allies

In a media blitz to rally support for toughened action against Iraq, the Bush administration charged on Sunday that Baghdad’s intensify...

In a media blitz to rally support for toughened action against Iraq, the Bush administration charged on Sunday that Baghdad’s intensifying efforts to develop a nuclear weapon increase the urgency of ousting Saddam Hussein.

Iraq is ‘‘actively and aggressively’’ working on a nuclear bomb, with the growing potential for the US to become a victim of Baghdad’s weapons of mass destruction, said Vice President Dick Cheney on TV.

‘‘We don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud,’’ National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said on CNN’s Late Edition.

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But Canada says no

TORONTO: Canada will not back any US strike to oust Saddam Hussein, Dy PM John Manley said in an interview on TV. He said there was not sufficient evidence that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction or had links to Al Qaeda.

CANBERRA: Australians are too complacent about the danger of a terrorist attack in their backyard, US Ambassador Tom Schieffer said. He said Australians have the same attitude that Americans had before Sept. 11, wrongly dismissing terrorist attacks as incidents that happen elsewhere in the world. (Reuters)

The administration can invoke President Bush’s new policy of pre-emptive action to eliminate the threat, officials said. ‘‘If we have reason to believe someone is preparing an attack against the US, has developed that capability, harbours those aspirations, then I think the US is justified in dealing with it, if necessary, by military force,’’ Cheney said on NBC’s Meet the Press.

While Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld invoked the magnitude and casualties of September 11, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said on Fox News Sunday Iraq has been ‘‘working hard’’ to develop delivery systems for biological weapons. Cheney said stronger action is needed because UN sanctions against Iraq have broken down and because Baghdad trade is expanding. (LATWP)

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