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U.S., Britain coordinating Iraq strategy

President Bush speaking to the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday.
President Bush speaking to the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday.  


(CNN) -- Now that President Bush has presented his case before the United Nations, the White House is coordinating the next phase of its Iraq strategy with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and U.S. officials said London will take the lead in pressing the U.N. to demand a return of weapons inspectors within weeks.

In his speech to the U.N. General Assembly, Bush called on Iraq to comply with U.N. resolutions concerning its weapons programs or "action will be unavoidable." (Full story) For weeks, the Bush administration has been reviewing the British equivalent of a "white paper" on Iraq, which U.S. officials said Blair is expected to release to the public in the coming days.

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To that end, officials said, U.S. strategy will be three-pronged:

  • A team of the president's principal advisers will be dispatched to Capitol Hill.
  • A team of deputies will be dispatched overseas.
  • John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, will continue to press the case at the United Nations.
  • And Washington will send a clear signal to Iraq by sending troops to the Middle East to test the idea of moving the headquarters of the U.S. Central Command to the Gulf nation of Qatar. Central Command is now based in Tampa, Florida. (Full story)

    Bush has been widely criticized in world capitals for what some, even traditionally supportive, U.S. allies consider a unilateral push for military confrontation with Iraq.

    But White House officials reject much of the criticism, saying Bush all along has maintained the use of force as a last option.

    And these administration officials say the White House has achieved its first goal when it comes to Iraq: putting the issue at center stage in the international debate after what the White House considers years of inattention to Iraq's defiance of its commitments.

    Bush will try in several meetings this week -- while he attends the U.N. General Assembly -- to build support for ousting Saddam.

    The president met with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday morning, and will meet with the leaders of Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Japan, South Africa, Rwanda and the Congo.

    Bush will then hold talks Saturday at the presidential retreat at Camp David with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

    -- CNN correspondents John King and Andrea Koppel contributed to this report



     
     
     
     


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