U.S. says gaining ground on Iraq in U.N. council
By Jonathan Wrighthttp://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N04171290
WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - The Bush administration said on Tuesday it was gaining support in the U.N. Security Council for a resolution finding Iraq in violation of U.N. disarmament requirements -- a possible prelude to invasion.
"I am increasingly optimistic that if it comes to a vote, we will be able to make a case that will persuade most of the members of the Security Council to vote for the resolution," U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told the French television station France 2 in an interview.
"We've had some very good calls from a lot of people and we think we are making progress towards getting a decision out of the council," added a senior State Department official. By a decision he meant nine votes for the resolution, he said.
The United States, Britain, Spain and Bulgaria have spoken publicly in favor of the resolution but they face formidable opposition from France, Russia, China and Germany, the first three of which have veto power in the council.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said again on Tuesday that Moscow might use its veto to block any resolution paving the way for war on Iraq.
Ivanov also said the U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq should be allowed to set their own deadline for judging President Saddam Hussein's efforts to disarm.
The other six members of the Security Council -- Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea, Mexico and Pakistan -- have been sitting on the fence while the big powers court their favor.
The United States could call off its campaign for a second U.N. resolution and launch an invasion of Iraq without U.N. approval but the U.S. officials indicated on Tuesday that at least for the moment they expect the council to vote.
"We are pushing for a second resolution ... We understand the importance and usefulness of a second resolution," Powell told Britain's ITN in another interview.
BRITISH REQUEST
"The United States feels that it is appropriate to move forward with a vote in the absence of compliance on the part of Saddam Hussein," he told the German television station RTL.
The United States agreed to present the resolution largely at the request of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, President George W. Bush's only significant military partner in plans to invade Iraq. Blair faces widespread domestic opposition to an attack, especially if it does not have U.N. approval.
The U.S. officials did not rule out abandoning the quest for a U.N. resolution but indicated that this was unlikely.
"We want council members to be able to have that opportunity (to vote) ... That's what we're working toward, that's what we're pushing for," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told a briefing.
The officials did not say which members of the Security Council were shifting toward the U.S. position but Boucher said that Powell had telephone talks on Monday with Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez and Guinean Foreign Minister Francois Ousseynou Fall.
Derbez went to Powell's house outside Washington on Saturday during a visit to the United States and on Sunday Mexico said it was working with the United States on the "unconditional disarmament" of Iraq.
On Friday the Security Council will hear reports from the chief U.N. weapons inspectors, Hans Blix and Mohammed ElBaradei, and at least the French and German foreign ministers are expected to attend the session. Boucher said Powell had not yet decided whether to go to the meeting.
In his interviews, Powell again showed signs of impatience with the U.N. inspection process and said that the United States could not maintain its force around Iraq for ever.
"You cannot keep a force like this, this large, just sitting around for a long period of time, as some have suggested. That's not the right solution anyway, just to keep a force sitting around," he told France 2.
But Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy said on Tuesday that leaving the U.S. forces in place would be less costly in the long term than an unnecessary and risky war. |
