[A-List] Bush Favors Iraqi Disarmament to War

[Sabri Oncu <soncu@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

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11/01 19:45
Bush Favors Iraqi Disarmament to War, UN's Blix Says (Update2)
By Bill Varner


United Nations, Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Hans Blix, the chief United
Nations arms inspector, told Security Council members he is
convinced that U.S. President George W. Bush will seek the
peaceful disarmament of Iraq before taking military action.

"The United States would much prefer to have a peaceful process
in which the result will be confidence that Iraq has no weapons
of mass destruction," Blix, who spoke Wednesday with Bush, said
after meeting with the council's 10 elected members.

Blix's comments came amid signs the U.S. is close to an agreement
that would end seven weeks of debate on a resolution setting
terms for inspections. A vote on a revised U.S. text, reflecting
concerns Blix raised in Washington, is expected next week,
diplomats said.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said the five permanent
members of the Security Council -- China, France, Russia, the
U.S. and U.K. -- are nearing an accord, an assessment shared by
the U.S. State Department.

The council members have "managed to move closer on several
positions," Ivanov said in Moscow, in an interview in Russian
posted on the Foreign Ministry Web site. "At the same time there
remain serious differences." He cited possible consequences
should Iraq breach UN resolutions, including the use of force.

U.S.-Led Coalition

Bush, who has voiced impatience with the UN deliberations,
reiterated during campaign stops in two states today that the
U.S. would act with or without the world body's approval.

"If the United Nations will not act, if Saddam Hussein will not
disarm, in the name of peace and in the name of freedom, the
United States of America will lead a coalition to disarm him,"
Bush told an audience in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he was
stumping for Republican candidates in Tuesday's election.

Syria, which has said it would not accept any new resolution, is
ready to consider the U.S. proposal on inspections, Deputy
Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad said.

"We are a practical people," Mekdad said. "If the Security
Council is moving toward a resolution we cannot say we don't want
to discuss it."

Mekdad said Blix asked the council diplomats to trust him to
implement the resolution in a way that would not spark a war.

We Trust Him

"We trust him, we have great respect for him, but the issue is
what we are going to have in the draft," Mekhad said. "What he
did in the meeting was to make it clearer to us the meaning of
certain phrases and sentences in the resolution."

France, which along with Russia, is concerned that Bush is
seeking a "hidden trigger" from the UN that would automatically
authorize an attack on Iraq, has also expressed confidence in
Blix.

Ginette de Matha, a spokeswoman for France's mission to the UN,
said last week her government would accept any UN resolution's
inspection terms if Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, director general
of the International Atomic Energy Agency, agreed to them.

Blix said the U.S. "has made various modifications" and would
make others before circulating a new version next week.

U.S. Concession

The U.S. has agreed to give Iraq 50 days after the adoption of
the resolution to provide a report on its civilian industry for
producing biological and chemical agents that could be used for
making weapons, a UN diplomat familiar with the negotiations told
reporters.

The U.S. initially demanded a report from Iraq of all elements of
its biological and chemical industry and programs that produce
related weapons of mass destruction 30 days after Security
Council action.

That's a concession to Blix, who told the Security Council on
Monday that he's concerned that Iraq wouldn't be able to meet the
30-day deadline on elements of its civilian programs.

Blix also told the council that a U.S. call for a seven-day
deadline for Iraqi acceptance of the resolution is unnecessary
and would delay the start of inspections.

Blix said there are practical problems with taking Iraqi
scientists and their families outside the country for interviews,
as the U.S. is demanding, and that a provision calling for the
``most qualified and experienced'' inspectors would put too many
U.S. and British specialists on the team.

Serious Consequences

The U.S. and France are negotiating the language of the text that
would threaten ``serious consequences,'' including military
force, in the event Iraq doesn't comply with the inspections.
Concern that the U.S. would use that phrase to take military
action against Iraq without further council action is the biggest
remaining barrier to an agreement, diplomats said.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday spoke by telephone
with Ivanov, amid signs Russia and France were softening their
opposition to the U.S.'s referring to Iraq's "material breach" of
UN mandates.

The Bush administration's top arms control official reiterated
the U.S. belief that Iraq possesses chemical and biological
weapons and could produce a nuclear weapon within a year if it
obtained the necessary materials.

In addition, the U.S. has "established that Iraq has permitted
al-Qaeda to operate within its territory," the official, John
Bolton, undersecretary of State for arms control, said of the
terrorist network blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S. and
other incidents.