Washington Considers Dropping U.N. Resolution

14/03/2003| IslamWeb

Forced into a diplomatic retreat, U.S. officials said Thursday that President Bush might delay a vote on his troubled U.N. resolution or even drop it - and fight Iraq without the international body's backing. France dismissed a compromise plan as an "automatic recourse to war." Bush spent a fourth day on the telephone, consulting leaders of Britain, Bulgaria, South Korea, Poland, El Salvador and Norway.

The U.S. diplomatic drive was centered on Chile and Mexico, both members of the U.N. Security Council, a senior administration official said. Their support would ensure the United States of the minimum nine votes need for adoption of the resolution.

But France's threat to veto is taken seriously, and the administration may decide not to give France the chance by withdrawing the resolution, a US official said on condition of anonymity. Bush was ready to drop the resolution, several aides said, if British Prime Minister Tony Blair didn't want it put to a vote.

Aides said the president has pushed for a U.N. vote thus far out of respect for Blair, whose support of Bush has drawn severe criticism in Britain.

Bush, meanwhile, backpedaled on his pledge to have a U.N. vote by Friday.

Several top administration officials said a growing number of advisers believe the resolution is doomed and they want the president to cut his losses and withdraw it. Others still hold out hope for the measure.

The officials, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, agreed that a key is whether Blair wants Bush to give diplomacy another weekend.

Bush and his advisers debated Thursday whether to press forward with the vote or withdraw the measure and pivot quickly to war footing. Bush has long planned to address the nation shortly after the U.N. debate is resolved and give Saddam a final ultimatum, probably including a deadline, for war.

"We are still talking to members of the council to see what is possible," Secretary of State Colin Powell said. "The options remain, go for a vote and see what members say or not go for a vote."

That's a change of policy since last week, when Bush said he wanted U.N. members to "show their cards" even if that meant the measure failed.

Powell, testifying on Capitol Hill, said the "day of reckoning is fast approaching" for Iraq.

He cited several allies that stand ready to back the United States if the U.N. won't, including Britain, Australia, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, Japan and eight eastern European countries.

Other Key Developments Concerning Iraq

*_ The Security Council was unable to reach agreement on a U.S.-backed resolution authorizing war in Iraq. A majority of the members said they still couldn't or wouldn't support it.

*_ France and Germany rejected Britain's compromise proposal that listed six disarmament conditions for Iraq. French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said the proposals "do not respond to the questions the international community is asking." Germany said the proposal still "basically gives an authorization for war."

*_ Britain and the United States lashed out at France for its rejection. "France ... looked at the British proposal, and they rejected it before Iraq rejected it," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

*_ Iraq dismissed the British proposals as "an attempt to beautify a rejected aggressive project."

*_ The United States is moving about 10 Navy ships armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles from the eastern Mediterranean to the Red Sea, senior U.S. officials said. The move indicates weakening U.S. confidence that Turkey will grant over flight rights for U.S. planes and missiles.

*_ A U.N. weapons inspector was killed and another injured in a traffic accident south of Baghdad, the U.N. said. Their car crashed head-on into a truck on a highway after they inspected a tomato-canning factory, 30 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq said.

*_ The chief U.N. nuclear inspector urged the Security Council to compromise on proposed disarmament conditions for Iraq, with staggered deadlines and no ultimatum for war. In an interview with The Associated Press, Mohamed ElBaradei, an Egyptian, offered to return to Baghdad himself to help see a timetable of tasks carried out.

*_ A leading Republican senator, Sen. Richard Lugar, accused the Bush administration of moving too slowly in developing plans to rebuild Iraq, saying, "We may be coming close to the moment of truth."

*_ A high-level Arab peace mission that was scheduled to travel to Iraq this week was postponed. Baghdad said it was still working out a date for the visit; the Arab League called the postponement "negative."

*_ U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan raised the possibility of a summit of interested world leaders who are searching for a compromise "to get us out of this crisis" with Iraq.

PHOTO CAPTION

Secretary of State Colin Powell testifies on Capitol Hill Thursday, March 13, 2003 before a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the State Department's fiscal 2004 budget. (AP Photo/