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Politics : Piffer Thread on Political Rantings and Ravings -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alan Smithee who wrote (8923)	11/5/2002 12:45:35 PM
From: Augustus Gloop	Respond to of 14610

Outstanding! FAVRE IS GOD

To: Alan Smithee who wrote (8923)	11/5/2002 12:56:47 PM
From: Augustus Gloop	Respond to of 14610

If we don't wipe Iraq off the planet we're making a mistake U.S. Says Compromise Iraq Resolution Is Close 58 minutes ago By Samia Nakhoul and Evelyn Leopold BAGHDAD/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations (news - web sites) is close to agreeing a resolution on Iraq that gives Washington scope to act alone if Baghdad blocks arms inspections, Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) was quoted as saying on Tuesday. He told the French daily Le Figaro he was confident weeks of negotiations in the U.N. Security Council over the issue were close to a compromise all Council members could live with. The United States has said it expects to submit a resolution this week, intended to give unrestricted access to arms inspectors who will return to Iraq, and hopes for unanimous backing after amending it to meet concerns of other members. Powell said the U.S. resolution would call on the Council to decide action if Iraq did not comply with inspections, but that it would not rule out later action by individual countries. "Whatever the Security Council decides, whether it decides to act or not, the United States and the other countries that feel as it does should not be handcuffed if they consider action necessary," he said. "My colleagues and I have been holding intense discussions for days in the Security Council...we are getting there." RUSSIA SAYS SADDAM READY TO COOPERATE President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) has agreed to allow inspectors to return after a four-year absence and in a possible policy shift, said Iraq might comply with a new disarmament resolution as long as it did not "provide a cover for America's ill intentions." Russia welcomed this on Tuesday. "It's another sign of Baghdad's readiness to work with the international community," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. Council members including Russia and France are wary of blessing any resolution that allows Washington to launch a war and argue later that it had the U.N.'s backing. Diplomats said outstanding differences among the five veto-holding permanent members -- the United States, Britain, Russia, China and France -- meant a revised resolution was not expected to be presented until Tuesday or Wednesday. The United States and Britain hope for a vote by Friday. Marc Grossman, a U.S. official visiting allies to drum up support for a tougher resolution, told a news conference after meeting Tunisian leaders that the stronger the resolution, the less likely war would be. "If we are smart and pass the right kind of Security Council resolution, we can strengthen the Security Council and Iraq meets its obligations and there will be no conflict," he told a news conference in Tunis at the start of a tour of North Africa. FAMILY FEUD Iraq said on Tuesday U.S. President George Bush was ignoring his allies and beating the drums of war. "Bush Junior is acting out of personal hatred and vendetta, which he inherited from his father against President Saddam Hussein," the official al-Thawra daily said. Former President George Bush Senior led the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites) to end Iraq's occupation of neighboring Kuwait. As then, support from Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. regional ally, will be important. In Tuesday's online New York Times, Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said Saudi Arabia had not yet decided if it would let the United States use its airspace and bases for war. Clarifying earlier comments, he said in a telephone interview with the Times that Saudi Arabia had to "cooperate" with the United Nations if Iraq thwarted U.N. resolutions. "That does not mean we have to join the fighting, or indeed to leave our bases for use," he said. "This is a sovereign right of Saudi Arabia to decide when the time comes." UNFETTERED ACCESS Washington also hopes for steadfast support from Turkey, a NATO (news - web sites) member where weekend elections were won by a new party accused by enemies of harboring radical Islamist elements. Turkish commentators said the Justice and Development Party would back U.S. action but exact a heavy price for allowing the use of airbases and other facilities, to offset economic losses. The new U.S. draft resolution warns that if Iraq does not to fully declare its weapons of mass destruction or interferes in inspections this could amount to a "material breach" of the 1991 Gulf War cease-fire pact, a legal basis for war. But the United States was now offering to wait until chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix reported any major problems and then discuss them with the Council before determining a "further material breach" or launching any military strike. Iraq agreed to give up chemical, biological and nuclear weapons following the 1991 Gulf War. U.N. inspectors instructed to check this left Iraq before a 1998 U.S.-British bombing raid to punish alleged Iraqi obstruction, and have never returned.