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Politics : War -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lorne who wrote (17107)	9/13/2002 10:42:49 AM
From: calgal	Respond to of 23908

Powell takes Iraq case to the world URL: usatoday.com NEW YORK (APOnline) — Secretary of State Colin Powell is launching talks with key foreign leaders to see if they can put together a U.N. resolution that calls on Iraq to submit to weapons inspections or risk grave consequences. US Secretary of State Colin Powell listens on the floor of United Nations General Assembly Thursday. By Henny Ray Abrams, AFP Only Britain stands firmly with the United States in its hard-line approach to Iraq's Saddam Hussein. The three other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, Russia, China and France, have the power to veto and torpedo a resolution. Powell's tough assignment is to try to gain their support. "I think the U.N. Security Council realizes we have a problem they have to deal with," the secretary said Friday. Interviewed on CBS's The Early Show, Powell said that any new U.N. resolutions "can't be the kinds of resolutions we've had in the past." On ABC's Good Morning America, he said, "There has to be deadlines this time. In the absence of deadlines, the Iraqis will string us out, will try to negotiate away or simply ignore the resolution." In a speech Thursday night, Powell lashed out at the Iraqi leader. "Saddam Hussein has long made an unholy alliance with terrorists," Powell said. "What is not arguable is that he is in violation of international law." Raising the specter of war, President Bush told skeptical world leaders Thursday to confront the "grave and gathering danger" of Saddam's Iraq — or stand aside as the United States acts. Hesitant allies asked Bush not to go it alone, while some members of Congress said the president still had not made the case for an attack. Powell stressed on Friday, however, that Bush has not yet made a decision. "The president has made it clear that he feels Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi regime to be abhorrent," he said on CBS, "but he's not declaring war on anybody at this point." Powell said he would confer with Security Council partners Friday but that he did not anticipate immediately putting together a new resolution. Representatives of other nations likely would need the weekend to consult with leaders back home, he said, saying a new resolution might not be forthcoming until next week. "But I don't want to put a time dimension on it right now because I think it's something for me and my colleagues in the Security Council to work out," Powell said. "We're often accused of being unilateral," he said on ABC. Powell said Bush's appearance at the U.N. "was a desire to speak to the international body, to be multilateral." In deciding to try to put together a new U.N. resolution on Iraq — there have been 16 since the Persian Gulf war of 1990-91 calling for weapons inspection and disarmament — Bush has taken a step in the direction of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other world leaders who are opposed to unilateral action. But a senior U.S. official responded negatively when asked if there was a chance Saddam would comply with U.N. demands this time. The official added there will be no negotiations with Iraq. "It's not as if Saddam Hussein doesn't know what he is supposed to do. So we don't expect the process of coming to a resolution to take months," the official said. Nor, the official said, will the United States wait months for Iraq to comply with any new U.N. demands. Powell had a luncheon scheduled with the foreign ministers of Russia, France, Britain and China, and a separate session with the other members of the Council. Also, Powell was to meet separately with Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan of China and, briefly, with French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepan. Bush told the U.N. that millions of lives were at risk because of Saddam's biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programs. He said it would be a "reckless gamble" to delay in coming to terms with the threat. Still, many world leaders counseled patience and more diplomacy, while some members of Congress remained skeptical. Defiant, Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Al-Douri denounced Bush's address. "He chooses to deceive the world and his own people by the longest series of fabrications that have ever been told by a leader of a nation," Al-Douri said. In Washington, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said, "I don't think that the case for pre-emptive attack has been made conclusively yet. That doesn't mean it can't be." Republican lawmakers praised Bush's speech and urged Democrats to support him. Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.