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Britain sets new tests for Saddam
Ewen MacAskill, Julian Borger in Washington and Gary Younge in New York
Tuesday March 11, 2003
The Guardian
The British government last night circulated a new compromise at the United Nations setting out a dozen disarmament tests that the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, would have to pass to avoid war.
A security council source said the UK was opting for a list that was "simple, striking and snappy" to win over wavering voters on the security council for a resolution that would set down a deadline for the tests.
The compromise, designed to break the deadlock gripping the UN security council and paralysing Washington's war plans, would see the deadline pushed back "by a few days" from the March 17 ultimatum proposed by London last week.
The government claims it has the support of the US for the revised plan. Furthermore, according to the British arithmetic, Angola, Cameroon, and Mexico are in favour and Guinea, Pakistan and Chile are also coming round.
Chile has proved to be one of the most awkward but it too is shifting towards the US-British position, according to British sources. Tony Blair phoned the Chilean president on Sunday to stress that the new resolution will take account of Chile's concerns.
Diplomats from the "middle six" members confirmed they were holding discussions among themselves and were open to such a compromise.
"There are some initiatives which are under way, and we are party to these initiatives," Angola's UN ambassador, Ismael Gaspar Martins, told reporters. "As it is, I think we can still do some more about that resolution. I think everybody accepts that, including the sponsors of the resolution."
The list demands that Iraqi scientists be taken out of the country for interviews abroad where they will be free from intimidation, the destruction of banned weapons and the provision of documents explaining what had happened to the remainder.
A British source said the US and Britain were "quietly confident" that the compromise will secure the votes of the six key undecided countries on the 15-member security council.
The British ambassador to the United Nations, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, spent yesterday sounding out the undecided countries about their remaining concerns and then drew up the fresh set of proposals.
If Sir Jeremy wins support for the new compromise, it could be put to a vote either tomorrow or Thursday.
If and when Britain and the US put forward a resolution, they will have to contend with the growing danger that France will lead opposition and scupper the plan. President Jacques Chirac yesterday made his first explicit threat that he would wield the veto.
"War can only lead to the development of terrorism," he said. "The war will break up the international coalition against terrorism." The victors of any war would be "those who want a clash of civilisations, cultures and religions".
With relations between Britain and France becoming increasingly strained, the British government said yesterday that it expected France and probably Russia to use their vetos. Russia said yester day that it would veto the resolution in its present form.
The stakes involved in the decision were dramatically raised yesterday by the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, when he explicitly warned the Bush administration that it would be violating the UN charter if it went ahead with the invasion of Iraq without security council endorsement.
The UN charter forbids military action against other member states unless the action is in self-defence or condoned by the security council.
US and British officials are also furious with the chief UN inspector, Hans Blix, for failing to mention what they see as damning evidence discovered by his inspectors of an undeclared drone aircraft and cluster bombs designed to scatter chemical and biological agents. The weapons were instead listed in a written UN working document and a last-minute addendum handed to council members after his verbal report last Friday.
British and US officials insisted Mr Blix attend a security council meeting last night to answer their questions.
According to the working document, Unmovic, the monitoring team, found part of a bomblet designed for chemical and biological agents last month in the Al Noaman munitions factory.
"Iraq stated that this was a leftover from the past declared chemical simulant test programme that was abandoned," the report notes, but it adds that the evidence suggests "Iraq's interest in cluster munitions, and the developments it did make, may have progressed well beyond what it had declared."
Ewen MacAskill, Julian Borger in Washington and Gary Younge in New York
Tuesday March 11, 2003
The Guardian
The British government last night circulated a new compromise at the United Nations setting out a dozen disarmament tests that the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, would have to pass to avoid war.
A security council source said the UK was opting for a list that was "simple, striking and snappy" to win over wavering voters on the security council for a resolution that would set down a deadline for the tests.
The compromise, designed to break the deadlock gripping the UN security council and paralysing Washington's war plans, would see the deadline pushed back "by a few days" from the March 17 ultimatum proposed by London last week.
The government claims it has the support of the US for the revised plan. Furthermore, according to the British arithmetic, Angola, Cameroon, and Mexico are in favour and Guinea, Pakistan and Chile are also coming round.
Chile has proved to be one of the most awkward but it too is shifting towards the US-British position, according to British sources. Tony Blair phoned the Chilean president on Sunday to stress that the new resolution will take account of Chile's concerns.
Diplomats from the "middle six" members confirmed they were holding discussions among themselves and were open to such a compromise.
"There are some initiatives which are under way, and we are party to these initiatives," Angola's UN ambassador, Ismael Gaspar Martins, told reporters. "As it is, I think we can still do some more about that resolution. I think everybody accepts that, including the sponsors of the resolution."
The list demands that Iraqi scientists be taken out of the country for interviews abroad where they will be free from intimidation, the destruction of banned weapons and the provision of documents explaining what had happened to the remainder.
A British source said the US and Britain were "quietly confident" that the compromise will secure the votes of the six key undecided countries on the 15-member security council.
The British ambassador to the United Nations, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, spent yesterday sounding out the undecided countries about their remaining concerns and then drew up the fresh set of proposals.
If Sir Jeremy wins support for the new compromise, it could be put to a vote either tomorrow or Thursday.
If and when Britain and the US put forward a resolution, they will have to contend with the growing danger that France will lead opposition and scupper the plan. President Jacques Chirac yesterday made his first explicit threat that he would wield the veto.
"War can only lead to the development of terrorism," he said. "The war will break up the international coalition against terrorism." The victors of any war would be "those who want a clash of civilisations, cultures and religions".
With relations between Britain and France becoming increasingly strained, the British government said yesterday that it expected France and probably Russia to use their vetos. Russia said yester day that it would veto the resolution in its present form.
The stakes involved in the decision were dramatically raised yesterday by the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, when he explicitly warned the Bush administration that it would be violating the UN charter if it went ahead with the invasion of Iraq without security council endorsement.
The UN charter forbids military action against other member states unless the action is in self-defence or condoned by the security council.
US and British officials are also furious with the chief UN inspector, Hans Blix, for failing to mention what they see as damning evidence discovered by his inspectors of an undeclared drone aircraft and cluster bombs designed to scatter chemical and biological agents. The weapons were instead listed in a written UN working document and a last-minute addendum handed to council members after his verbal report last Friday.
British and US officials insisted Mr Blix attend a security council meeting last night to answer their questions.
According to the working document, Unmovic, the monitoring team, found part of a bomblet designed for chemical and biological agents last month in the Al Noaman munitions factory.
"Iraq stated that this was a leftover from the past declared chemical simulant test programme that was abandoned," the report notes, but it adds that the evidence suggests "Iraq's interest in cluster munitions, and the developments it did make, may have progressed well beyond what it had declared."
I must say I am impressed with Blair's diplomacy here. First he was sucsessful and getting Bush to attempt the UN route- now if this amended resolution can pass and becomes the basis for the solution to the Iraq problem, it will be a great boon to British prestige and perhaps signal the highest point British influence has been at in awhile.
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