US war resolution comes with warning label: Don't use that veto!

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

New York Times, October 24
Security Council Gets U.S. Proposal on Disarming Iraq (excerpt)
By JULIA PRESTON


UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 23 - The United States formally presented the full
Security Council today with a draft resolution that includes a threat of
military action against Iraq, sharply increasing the pressure on France,
Russia and China to agree to a tough measure to force Baghdad to disarm.
The administration's step followed six weeks of wrangling among the five
veto-bearing members of the Council that did not yield agreement on linking
a proposal for tough weapons inspections in Iraq with a threat of military
force to back them up.

The United States submitted its draft to all 15 Council nations to show its
reluctant allies, France and Russia, that it had sufficient support among
the 10 other members.
American diplomats calculated, but without any guarantees, that neither
France, Russia nor China would veto the latest resolution. But the move
today forced the pace and put pressure on the five to decide soon how they
would vote.

"You're either with us or against us" was the message that Washington was
sending to the other permanent members, an administration official said
today.

France, supported by Russia, has opposed the American draft because it
includes a legal basis for a military attack if Iraq fails to disarm. France
has favored a two-stage approach, which would leave the authorization of
force to a second resolution, a position Russia and China favor.
The United States action today came after France and Russia, and less
forcefully China, criticized the American proposal yet again in closed
negotiations on Tuesday.

American officials said they were carrying out a strategy that Mr. Bush
outlined on Sept. 12 when he first challenged the United Nations to confront
Iraq, saying that if the world organization would not act to disarm Iraq,
the United States was prepared to do it alone.

American diplomats argued that the negotiations among the five veto-bearing
countries were among the most arduous ever for a resolution. American and
British diplomats insisted they had made significant concessions to the
complaints from France and Russia in the draft they presented on Monday.
Britain will co-sponsor the resolution.

"The moment has come to give an added sense of urgency to this question,"
said the American ambassador, John D. Negroponte.
The draft presented today underwent only minor modifcations in negotiations
since late Sunday.

The full Council will return for discussions on Friday, and decided today to
meet on Monday with Hans Blix, the head of the United Nations weapons
inspections team, extending the negotiations into next week.

The Russian ambassador, Sergey Lavrov, made an unusual display of irritation
as he went into the meeting. Visibly angry, he said he was "preoccupied with
the real problem," the hostage crisis in Moscow.

"That's the sort of real threats we experience these days," Mr. Lavrov
insisted, suggesting that the threat posed by Iraq's weapons programs was
less immediate.

He said Russia opposed the American draft because it still included an
automatic authorization for the use of force and imposed "unimplementable,
unrealistic" demands on inspectors and Iraqi officials.
When asked if Russia had assured the United States that it would not use its
veto, Mr. Lavrov said: "The short answer is no. But this was never
discussed."
He dismissed suggestions by American diplomats that his views did not
represent the thinking of President Vladimir V. Putin. "In case someone has
any doubts, what I'm presenting in the Council is not an invention of my
own," he said.

The closed meeting this afternoon with all 15 Council members was the first
time the 10 rotating members, who do not hold vetoes, had officially seen
the United States draft. They have complained openly about being excluded
from the talks, and American officials said today's move was in part to
mollify them.

Under the terms of the United Nations Charter, a Council resolution is
adopted by nine votes in favor and no negative vote from the five permanent
members. As they emerged today with the text in their briefcases, the
nonpermanent ambassadors were noncommital.

Making an informal count, administration officials said they were confident
of the support of Bulgaria, Colombia, Guinea and Norway and believed they
could secure the votes of Singapore and Cameroon. Syria and Mauritius were
expected to vote against it. As a result, Ireland and Mexico emerged as
pivotal votes.

Mexico, whose president, Vicente Fox, has enjoyed a warm friendship with
President Bush, has been frustrated with the lack of progress with the
administration on immigration and other bilateral issues. Mexico has very
vocally backed France's demand for the two-stage approach.

Moments after meeting tonight with Secretary of State Colin L. Powell,
Mexico's foreign minister, Jorge G. Castañeda, spoke positively of the new
draft, although he said he had not read the very latest version.



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