Cheney says Hussein is seeking nuclear weapons

WASHINGTON -- The United States is justified in striking any country it believes is planning an attack against America, Vice President Cheney said Sunday, applying the Bush administration's new foreign policy doctrine on pre-emptive military action to Iraq.\nSaddam Hussein has accelerated his biological weapons programs and is "actively and aggressively" seeking a nuclear bomb, Cheney said, citing unspecified intelligence gathered over the past 12 months to 14 months. "And increasingly, we believe the United States will become the target of those activities," he said.\nCheney and top administration officials took to the Sunday talk shows as part of President Bush's effort to convince the public, Congress and other countries that action against Saddam is urgently needed.\nThe officials cited the Sept. 11 attacks in making the case that the world cannot wait to find out whether the Iraqi president has weapons of mass destruction.\n"Imagine, a September 11 with weapons of mass destruction. It's not 3,000; it's tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said on CBS's "Face the Nation."\nCheney said he didn't know for sure whether Saddam already has a nuclear weapon. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he did not think so.\n"The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud," national security adviser Condoleezza Rice told CNN's "Late Edition."\n"How long are we going to wait to deal with what is clearly a gathering threat against the United States, against our allies and against his own region?" she said.\nBush will address the United Nations on Thursday to build his case for action against Iraq. But Secretary of State Colin Powell said whatever the United Nations decides, Bush will reserve the right to go it alone against Iraq.\n"The president will retain all of his authority and options to act in a way that may be appropriate for us to act unilaterally to defend ourselves," Powell said on "Fox News Sunday."\nBush outlined a new doctrine in June warning he will take "pre--emptive action, when necessary, to defend our liberty and to defend our lives." He mentioned no specific nations at the time. On Sunday, Cheney pointed a finger directly at Iraq.\nCritics, some of them in countries allied with the United States, have questioned whether military action to achieve the U.S. government's goal of overthrowing Saddam Hussein from power is legal under international law.\nCheney said in the case of Iraq, such action is justified.\nAdded Powell: "When you can intercept a terrorist act that is heading your way or you can deal with a regime or a situation before it comes to a crisis level and threatens you, then it is an option that you should keep in mind and on the table."\nSaddam has the technical expertise and designs for a nuclear weapon, and has been seeking a type of aluminum tube needed to enrich uranium for a weapon, Cheney and Powell said. \n"We know we have a part of the picture and that part of the picture tells us that he is in fact actively and aggressively seeking to acquire nuclear weapons," Cheney said.\nIraq's vice president denied Sunday that his country is trying to collect nuclear material or building up sites that U.N. weapons inspectors used to visit. Taha Yassin Ramadan, speaking to reporters in Baghdad, charged that the United States and Britain are seeking an excuse to attack Iraq.\n"They are telling lies and lies to make others believe them," Ramadan said.\nBush administration officials expressed deep skepticism about giving Saddam another chance to open up his country to U.N. weapons inspectors. Officials say Bush is considering giving Saddam a last-ditch deadline for allowing unfettered access to weapons inspectors.\n"The issue is not inspectors or inspections. That is a tool," Powell said. "Disarmament is the issue. And we will stay focused on that, and we believe that regime change is the surest way to make sure that it's disarmed"