U.S. Circulates New Draft on Iraq
By EDITH M. LEDERER 10/23/2002 18:32:19 EST
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Abruptly stepping up pressure for quick U.N. action, the
United States distributed its tough new draft resolution on Iraq to the entire Security
Council for the first time Wednesday but Russia immediately rejected it and said
France and China were also opposed.
The U.S. decision to move a lengthy debate among the five veto-wielding members to
the 15-member council came as White House spokesman Ari Fleischer made clear
the United States wants to wrap up negotiations saying talks have reached their "final
moments" and a vote could go either way.
A senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said
Wednesday's full council meeting was part of a new U.S. strategy to persuade the
reluctant permanent members by actively taking the U.S. case to a wider audience.
For a resolution to pass, it needs nine "yes" votes in the Security Council and no veto
by a permanent member - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.
The 10 elected council members got their first look Wednesday afternoon at the new
U.S. draft at a closed council meetings where diplomats said each got to make a
statement.
"The end is either an agreement or a failure to reach agreement," Fleischer said. "It
could be either one right now."
But the senior U.S. official said he expects negotiations to continue among the five
permanent members and in the full council, with the aim of reaching a consensus.
"We want to get on with it ... but it doesn't mean that we're going to be looking for a
vote tomorrow," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Russia's U.N. Ambassador Sergey Lavrov quickly rejected the text, saying it contained
an unacceptable authorization of force if Iraq fails to comply with its terms and that it
provides U.N. weapons inspectors with requirements they can't fulfill - just as the initial
U.S. text did earlier this month.
"Unfortunately, so far we have not seen changes in the text which would take into
account these concerns, and they are shared by France and China," Lavrov said.
Asked whether Russia had given the United States any reason to believe it would not
veto the resolution, he said, "Well the short answer is `no,' but this was never
discussed."
The United States and Britain have been at odds with France, Russia and China over
how tough a new resolution should be.
Washington, backed by London, is pushing a single resolution that would allow force
to be used against Iraq if it doesn't meet its U.N. disarmament obligations.
The senior U.S. official said the resolution offered a "last chance" to Iraq to comply
with inspectors.
"This resolution is not an attempt by the United States to seek an excuse to go to
war. ... It's an attempt by us and the British to send a clear message to Iraq and to get
a good inspection regime under way and operating," the official said.
But Paris, Moscow and Beijing still want a two-stage approach giving Iraq another
chance to comply with U.N. weapons inspectors and only authorizing force in a
second resolution if Baghdad obstructed inspections.
In Amman, Jordan, Iraq's Culture Minister Hamed Yousef Hamadi called the U.S. draft
a "declaration of war."
The United States circulated an initial draft to the five permanent members in late
September. The new text, a product of nearly six weeks of difficult negotiations,
includes two references to Iraq being in "material breach" for violating U.N. resolutions,
a phrase that some legal experts say could open the door for military action.
It also recalls Security Council warnings that Iraq would face "serious consequences,"
as a result of its continued violations of its obligations.
On inspections, the text calls on Iraq to allow U.N. inspectors "immediate, unimpeded,
unconditional and unrestricted access to presidential sites equal to that at other
sites."
It would also give inspectors the right to declare no-fly and no-drive zones around
inspection sites but drops a demand for armed security guards to help enforce the
zones. The U.S. draft also drops proposals that the five permanent members be
allowed to join inspection teams and receive information gleaned from inspections.
But it would still allow inspectors to remove Iraqi scientists and their families from the
country in order to conduct interviews, without the presence of Iraqi government
minders.
The latest American plan would also speed up the arrival of inspectors.
It demands that Iraq accept the resolution within seven days of its adoption and
declare its programs to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and ballistic
missiles within 30 days. Inspectors would have up to 45 days from adoption of the
resolution to resume work, not 45 days from receipt of Iraq's weapons declaration
which the previous text called for.
The issue of a new resolution has been at the United Nations since U.S. President
George W. Bush addressed the General Assembly on Sept. 12 and warned that if the
Security Council didn't act decisively to disarm Saddam Hussein, the United States
would take action on its own.
Wednesday's meeting follows comments from senior U.S. military officials that failure
to secure quick agreement in the council - coupled with the possibility that Iraq could
initially cooperate with weapons inspections - could delay military action beyond winter
and spring. Those are considered the most suitable times for conducting war in Iraq.
Bush spoke by telephone Wednesday with Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
The United States would need his permission to use Turkey's Incirlik Air Base in any
assault on Iraq. "They discussed cooperation on Iraq," Fleischer said, without
elaborating.
Inspectors must certify that Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs
have been destroyed before sanctions imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait
can be lifted. |
