[A-List] US imperialism: Iraq

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

US secures deal on new Iraq weapons resolution

US secures weapons resolution deal

Ewen MacAskill and Oliver Burkeman in New York
Wednesday November 6, 2002
The Guardian

The US is expected to table a tough new resolution on Iraq at the United
Nations security council in the next 24 hours to bring an end to two months
of protracted negotiations with France.

The US, in effect, secured the long-awaited agreement with France yesterday.
The US secretary of state, Colin Powell, spoke by phone twice yesterday with
the French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, to seal the deal.

"There are no signs of any outstanding problems," a source close to the
negotiations said.

A vote on the resolution, which will be little more than a formality, is
scheduled before the end of the week. Of the 15-member security council,
only Syria is expected to abstain.

The text, which provides additional powers for UN inspectors to hunt for
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, is closer to the original US-British
draft than to French and Russian versions.

All sides will diplomatically insist that it is a compromise.

The US has made the biggest gain by avoiding a commitment to go back to the
security council to secure yet another resolution, as France and Russia had
demanded, if Iraq obstructs the inspectors. Instead, there is a promise only
to return to the security council for non-binding talks.

The key passage of the 13-paragraph resolution - and the source of most
arguments between the US and France, according to the UN chief weapons
inspector, Hans Blix - says that any obstruction by the Iraqi government
must be reported immediately. The security council "will decide to convene
immediately upon receipt of the report in order to consider the situation
and the need for full compliance", it adds.

The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, who also spoke twice to Mr Powell
yesterday, said the changes were aimed at securing a "robust resolution to
ensure the weapons inspectors can find and destroy weapons".

Iraq will be given a week to accept or reject the resolution but Saddam
Hussein will almost certainly accept: rejection would trigger war.

Iraq will be given 30 days to make a declaration of all the weapons of mass
destruction it might have in its possession.

The inspectors, who left Iraq four years ago, are to return to check the
Iraqi declaration and report back within 60 days.

A US official said that the 10 non-permanent members of the security council
would be given at least 48 hours to review the text after it had been
formally tabled. "But in terms of when we would go to a vote, possibly we
could wrap this all up by the end of this week," the official added.

Two contentious phrases in the original US-British draft are also in the
final resolution, warning of "serious consequences" for Iraq if there is any
"material breach" of its promise to have destroyed all chemical, biological
and nuclear-related weapons.

But France will claim that it has secured concessions.

A security council official said the resolution will make it clear that
there is no "hidden trigger" for a US-led war on Iraq, assuaging concerns
among the French, Russians and Chinese about what Paris called the
"automaticity" inherent in earlier drafts.

The resolution sets out the powers of the inspectors, including a right to
take key witnesses out of Iraq in order to give evidence more freely.
Exercise of the power will be left to the discretion of Mr Blix.

The Mexican foreign secretary, Jorge Castaneda, who has seen the revised
text, said he would support it. As Mexico had requested, it offers Iraq an
end to sanctions if it complies.

Mr Castaneda said two US proposals on inspections were dropped. One would
have allowed any of the five permanent council members to be represented on
inspection teams; the other called for armed security guards to accompany
inspectors.