Blair seeks new 'fig-leaf' resolution to avert French veto
By David Usborne in New York, John Lichfield, Paul Waugh and Anne Penketh
08 February 2003
An anxious Tony Blair and George Bush were pushing for a new "fig-leaf" United Nations resolution last night to avert a French veto and clear the way for war on Iraq.
Senior diplomats told The Independent that the planned resolution would lay down a brief deadline for Saddam Hussein to co-operate fully with UN demands but would fall short of providing an explicit authorisation of force.
President Bush would push for a "serious, effective and acceptable" UN resolution, his spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said. The price of securing UN unity and thereby persuading sceptical public opinion throughout Europe and America to back the war was to opt for such a watered-down approach, diplomatic sources said. The news came as Jacques Chirac, the French President, raised the stakes by hinting that his country would use its Security Council veto to block a war.
Mr Blair faces the risk of cabinet resignations, a lasting split in the Labour Party and widespread public opposition if he backs military action without a second UN resolution. He clearly hopes the new strategy will achieve UN unity and overcome public scepticism.
The Prime Minister told BBC2's Newsnight this week he would get public opinion behind him if there were such a resolution. "I think if there's not [a new resolution] then there's a lot of persuading to do," he said.
The most recent opinion poll by YouGov/ITV News, conducted after Colin Powell's address on Wednesday, found 59 per cent of Britons would only support war if it was approved by the UN. Only 18 per cent would support action without a UN mandate.
The first drafts are being put together in London. The proposed resolution would say the regime of President Saddam was, once more, in "material breach" of obligations to disarm and co-operate with inspectors but would stop short of explicitly authorising military force.
It may be tabled soon after 14 February, when Hans Blix, the chief UN inspector, is to make a new report to the Council. Such a formula is seen as offering the best possible chance of averting a French veto of a second Iraq resolution. But the tactic may backfire, provoking Paris to dig in its heels, as it will be seen as a transparent manoeuvre to give UN cover for war without specific Security Council authorisation of military action.
British officials stressed last night the effect of declaring Iraq in "material breach" would be exactly the same, in legal terms, as authorising force. "If you say Iraq is in material breach, that is authorisation for the use of force," one official in New York said. "It amounts to the same thing."
London may be gambling that France and other countries hesitant about the military option would be ready to swallow a second resolution if its provisions did not spell out that the Council was authorising a military response. "It might make some on the Council who are squeamish about the words more able to support it," the official said. "But of course they understand the legalities and know perfectly well that if material breach is declared, that means there is a green light for use of force."
more at
news.independent.co.uk
A fig leaf resolution finessed through to massacre a hapless people. Can you get more corrupt or conniving?
This would be an unbelievable farce had it not been for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives at stake.
When Gandhi was asked about Western Civilization, said it would be a good idea.
The idea looks better every day. |
