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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (11068)	2/20/2003 4:48:43 PM
From: Kenneth E. Phillipps	Respond to of 25898

New resolution unlikely to have deadline: Powell US Secretary of State Colin Powell says a new draft UN Security Council resolution on Iraqi disarmament is unlikely to contain any timeline for compliance, Mr Powell says there seems little point in inserting a timeframe into any new resolution. "We wouldn't expect the resolution itself to have a timeline, but time is running out," Mr Powell has told German television. Earlier a top US official said a new resolution being drawn up by Britain and the United States, which may declare Iraq in material breach of the first disarmament demand, would be put to the Security Council next week. Mr Powell says when that happens, the US would expect support. "I hope that when we put a resolution down and discuss this resolution in the weeks ahead, and it has to be done in a fairly short period of time... we will persuade enough members of the council to vote for the resolution." Opponents of the use of force such as France, Germany and Russia "see the that inspections are a route for avoiding a crunch decision," he said. "If we present them with that crunch decision, the debate changes its character." On Wednesday, Britain's ambassador to the United Nations Jeremy Greenstock said he thought that the new draft resolution would set a deadline for Iraq to disarm. Turkey US military planning has again been disrupted by NATO ally Turkey, which has rebuffed the latest overtures from Washington. The Turkish Government is delaying a parliamentary vote on allowing the US to deploy combat troops in Turkey, ahead of a possible northern invasion of Iraq. The US has offered Turkey a multi-billion dollar financial aid package in return for the use of its bases, but Turkey is holding out for more money. The White House thought the Turkish Government would advise the US of its decision today, but the Turkish Prime Minister has told reporters in Ankara that he will not make a statement until tomorrow. America says its offer is final. The current stalemate is complicating American military planning, as Turkish bases are very strategically significant. Pressure Meanwhile Russia says UN inspectors are being subjected to intense pressure to force them to leave, or produce reports that can be used as a pretext for military action. Observers say Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov's remarks are stronger than Moscow's previous allegations that Washington is putting pressure on the inspectors, describing the claim as a clear criticism of US policy. Mr Ivanov has made no specific reference to the United States, but he has told a news conference Russia is concerned by information it is receiving. "According to this information the international inspectors are being subjected to very strong pressure in order to provoke departure from Iraq as occurred in 1998, or to present the Security Council assessments which could be used as a pretext for the use of force against Iraq," he said. Arab meeting The Arab states have failed to agree on a united stand against a war on Iraq and have cancelled a planned emergency summit meeting. In an interview published in Egypt's Al Ahram newspaper Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa said members of the group had been expected to fully back a joint position on Arab diplomacy but unfortunately that did not happen. Instead of an emergency summit the league will go ahead with its normal annual summit on March 1. A meeting of Arab foreign ministers last weekend broke up in acrimony after Kuwait accused the gathering's Lebanese chairman of steamrolling through a statement critical of those Arab states hosting US and other foreign forces in the build-up to an attack on Iraq.