With unanimous UN Security Council backing, Bush warns Iraq of ‘severest consequences’

President Bush is poised to finish off Saddam Hussein and his regime by the end of Ramadan.

The UN Security Council resolution on Iraq, which the US authored, gives Saddam Hussein seven days to say whether or not he would comply, and 30 days to comply completely. Within minutes of the unanimous Security Council vote, the President gave Saddam no wiggle room: "His cooperation must be prompt and unconditional, or he will face the severest consequences."

"The world has now come together to say that the outlaw regime in Iraq will not be permitted to build or possess chemical, biological or nuclear weapons," the President said. "That is the judgment of the United States Congress, that is the judgment of the United Nations Security Council. Now the world must insist that that judgment be enforced."

Bush was categorical: "Iraq must now, without delay or negotiations, fully disarm; welcome full inspections, welcome full inspections, and fundamentally change the approach it has taken for more than a decade. The regime must allow immediate and unrestricted access to every site, every document, and every person identified by inspectors. Iraq can be certain that the old game of cheat-and-retreat tolerated at other times will no longer be tolerated."

"America will be making only one determination: is Iraq meeting the terms of the Security Council resolution or not? The United States has agreed to discuss any material breach with the Security Council, but without jeopardizing our freedom of action to defend our country. If Iraq fails to fully comply, the United States and other nations will disarm Saddam Hussein."

And, one trusts, will change the regime.

For Center for Security Policy President Frank Gaffney’s latest Fox News column on Iraq, written the day before passage of the UN resolution, click here.