Blix also will distribute a 167-page report that disputes Iraq's claim to have destroyed 21,000 liters of biological warfare agents, including anthrax, 12 years ago, according to a weapons report to be released on Friday.
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Britain, U.S. Discuss Amendments to Iraq Resolution
Thu Mar 6,10:36 PM ET Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Facing strong opposition, Britain on Thursday offered to amend a U.S.-backed U.N. resolution that would give Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) a bit more time to prove he had eliminated all banned weapons, a proposal the United States considered seriously.
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Slideshow: Iraq and Saddam Hussein
With about 300,000 U.S. and British troops in the Gulf ready to invade Iraq (news - web sites), British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, however, made clear at a U.N. news conference that any compromise had to include adoption of a U.S.-British-Spanish resolution that authorized war
President Bush (news - web sites), in a rare prime-time news conference, said he would insist on a vote regardless of prospects for passage.
"It's time for people to show their cards, to let the world know where they stand when it comes to Saddam," he said.
But State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), in meetings with Straw and Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio "discussed various ideas about a resolution, including possible changes in the text."
Straw, in his news conference, did not give details of his proposal which diplomats said would give Iraq more time to disarm after adoption of the resolution and before war.
Britain was considering a five or seven day time span while the United States wanted 72 hours, the envoys said. "Of course, we are ready to discuss the wording of that resolution," Straw said. "There is certainly the possibility of an amendment, and that's what we are looking at."
Straw, Powell, Palacio and other key foreign ministers arrived at the United Nations (news - web sites) for a meeting on Friday at which top U.N. weapons inspectors, Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, will give their latest report on Iraqi compliance with U.N. demands that it disarm. Iraq denies it has any banned weapons.
Powell also met French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, his most articulate opponent of the resolution.
"He had good extensive discussions (with all the ministers) on Iraq's refusal to disarm and the council's responsibility to deal with this danger," Boucher said.
While some undecided nations, like Chile, expressed interest in the British proposal, it was bound to be rebuffed by Russia, France, Germany and China who oppose war.
IS THAT A COMPROMISE?
"First you say you start the war tomorrow," said Russia's U.N. ambassador Sergei Lavrov. "And then you say you start the war in three days. Is that a compromise?"
Despite intense lobbying, the British effort indicated that the United States had still not nailed down the support it needed in the Security Council, with swing states unwilling to publicly back Washington.
A resolution needs nine votes and no veto from its five permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- for adoption.
If the United States gets the minimum nine votes and France or Russia cast a veto, Washington could then say it had done its best to get international approval for war. Aside from the sponsors of the resolution, only Bulgaria has openly backed an attack against Iraq, albeit with misgivings.
ARMS INSPECTORS' REPORT
The British proposal was expected to be discussed on Friday, when foreign ministers representing most council members meet behind closed doors after the inspectors' report.
ElBaradei, head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, again expressed doubts at U.S. allegations that Iraq had tried to revive its nuclear arms programs.
"If things move as they are now, if Iraq keeps accelerating its cooperation ... I think one can talk about two to three months," he said in an interview.
Blix, in charge of chemical, biological and ballistic arms programs, has also given a preview of his presentation at a news conference on Wednesday.
While he is not as optimistic as ElBaradei he said Iraq had provided substantial cooperation in the past few weeks, particularly in destroying its al-Samoud 2 missiles because they exceeded the 90 miles range set by U.N. resolutions.
Blix also will distribute a 167-page report that disputes Iraq's claim to have destroyed 21,000 liters of biological warfare agents, including anthrax, 12 years ago, according to a weapons report to be released on Friday.
The report, obtained by Reuters, says Iraq may be developing new banned missiles, calls on Baghdad to surrender any remaining biological, chemical or Scud missiles, and explain the fate of missing chemical agents.
But the report is bound to encourage France, Russia and Germany by setting out a program of work that Baghdad is expected to follow in accounting for dangerous weapons.
However, Straw seized on the report to argue that Iraq has no intention to disarm, calling it a "shocking indictment of the record of Saddam Hussein's deception and deceit."
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