UN powers fall in line with U.S.
'Complete unanimity': Will draft resolution telling Saddam to give in or face fight
Steven Edwards
National Post
Saturday, September 14, 2002
The Associated Press
A missile-loaded U.S. Air Force F-16C Falcon fighter is ready to take off from Incirlik air base in southern Turkey yesterday for a daily mission over northern Iraq to monitor compliance with United Nations Security Council resolutions. Incirlik was a staging point for U.S. attacks during the Gulf War in 1991. In the background are the six minarets of the nearby Sabanci Mosque.
UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council's most powerful members agreed yesterday they will move quickly to produce a resolution demanding Iraq readmit weapons inspectors immediately or face "consequences."
The deal was one of several developments yesterday that showed a new mood had seized the world body since George W. Bush, the U.S. President, told the UN General Assembly on Thursday that war with Iraq is inevitable unless the Security Council ends Baghdad's defiance.
Mr. Bush, who remained at the UN yesterday to meet African leaders, said he wants "quick action" from the Security Council, which some members of his administration believe should be bypassed altogether.
"We're talking days and weeks, not months and years," he said. "That's essential for the safety of the world."
The agreement was hammered out during a private luncheon at which Colin Powell, the U.S. Secretary of State, met the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Russia and China. Usually, U.S. and British proposals to get tough with Iraq go nowhere because of opposition from Russia and France, both Security Council members with veto power.
The serious discussion will start in little more than a week, after the ministers return home, work out their strategies, then instruct their missions in New York.
One of the U.S. conditions, Mr. Powell said, is that any new resolution "must have a deadline."
A diplomat with knowledge of the lunchtime discussions said the United States was expected to get its way even though Sergei Lavrov, Russia's ambassador to the UN, rejected setting a deadline on Tuesday.
"The deadline question is a contentious one and will be part of the negotiations," the diplomat said. "There is pretty much consensus that we do need to build in a sense of urgency somehow, which I think inevitably will need some sort of time frame."
The question of consequences will also be negotiated.
"In UN terms, if you say 'all necessary means,' everybody knows that is code that means military action is OK," the diplomat said.
Jack Straw, the British Foreign Minister, said there was "complete unanimity about the imperative of getting the weapons inspectors back into Iraq."
There had been no conclusion about whether to set a deadline, "but it is fair to say [there was] a very clear understanding that if we are going to set an imperative to get the inspectors back, that has to mean a time limit."
Igor Ivanov, the Russian Foreign Minister, said in a statement, "The ministers discussed the Iraqi issue. They agreed that Iraqi noncompliance with the relevant Security Council resolutions is a serious matter and have begun consultations on how the Security Council can deal with the issue to ensure implementation of its resolutions."
Iraq is bound by the truce that ended the Gulf War in 1991 to allow UN inspectors to check it has destroyed all weapons of mass destruction. But Baghdad barred them after they left in 1998 to protest Iraqi non-co-operation.
Bill Graham, Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister, said yesterday the Security Council needs only "a couple of weeks" to arrive at a strategy to deal with Iraq.
Canada was one of the Council's non-veto-wielding "rotating" members in 1999-2000.
"It's not something that requires a great deal of analysis by the Security Council as to whether Iraq is or is not in violation of its obligations," he told CBC.
"As the [U.S.] President has said, we're not looking at an indefinite time frame that this thing can just be kicked over. This is something that has to be dealt with."
Mr. Powell's luncheon was just one meeting among many as he pushes for diplomatic support in dealing with Iraq.
He held a closed meeting with the 10 non-veto-wielding Security Council members in a bid to secure the required majority of nine for a resolution to pass.
He also met privately with Choi Sung-hong, the Chinese Foreign Minister (China traditionally reserves its veto to block matters that affect it or Taiwan, which it considers a Chinese province), and Jan Petersen, the Foreign Minister of Norway, which chairs the Security Council's Committee on Iraq Sanctions.
Finally, he met European foreign ministers as a group.
"I think there is momentum," said Dr. Per Stig Moeller, Foreign Minister of Denmark, the European Union's current president. "It is very clear the UN really wants to be respected in this matter."
A new resolution should be "firm and resolute," and be passed soon.
"You cannot waste a lot of time, because a lot of time has been wasted by Iraq's methods," he said.
Two key Arab states, Egypt and Jordan, said yesterday they were pressing Iraq to allow inspections to resume.
But Mr. Bush said he expected Saddam to continue ignoring the UN.
"I am highly doubtful that he will meet our demands. I hope he does, but I am highly doubtful. The reason I'm doubtful is he's had 11 years to meet the demands. For 11 long years, he has basically told the United Nations and the world he doesn't care."
The U.S. President's decision to give the UN one last chance to deal with Iraq is a victory for Mr. Powell, who has advocated a multilateral approach.
But yesterday Mr. Bush appeared to reveal a personal lack of confidence in the world body as he criticized Democrats who wanted to delay voting on a Congressional resolution on Iraq until the UN passes its measure.
He said with a chuckle he could not imagine being an elected member of Congress and saying, "Vote for me and, oh, on matters of national security, I think I'm going to want somebody else to act."
sedwards@nationalpost.com
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