ITALY: The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Brian Cowen, has rejected the notion that war is inevitable in Iraq and said there was still time for the international community to reach a multilateral, peaceful solution.
The minister said the Government's policy on the Iraq crisis has been in line both with that outlined on Monday by EU leaders in Brussels and with that consistently articulated by the United Nations Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan.
Speaking in Rome, where he had meetings with Italian Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Giancarlo Fini, and with his opposite number, Mr Franco Frattini, Mr Cowen said the best hope for peace lay with the Security Council.
"The Security Council works best, is most effective, when it is united," said the Minister. "Despite this difficult moment, there is an obligation on everybody on the Security Council to work towards an agreement as to what the next step should be and the reality is that the next Blix report is the next time when the Security Council will make such an attempt."
Despite his belief that "war is not inevitable", Mr Cowen acknowledged the obvious possibility of a conflict but, reiterating the Taoiseach's statement on Wednesday, underlined the "political imperative" of a new Security Council resolution that would give a mandate for military intervention.
"The US and UK claim there is already a legal basis for military action. We say that regardless of whether there is a legal consensus for that, there is political imperative to have a second resolution to maintain the widest possible international solidarity with whatever action is taken and that would enhance the legitimacy of any military action."
"Clearly some people, the United States for example, will indicate they have very little confidence, based on existing evidence, that there will ever be full co-operation from Iraq [with UN weapons inspectors\]. Mr Blix has asked for more time in the hope that he can get full co-operation.
"What we say to everyone on the Security Council is: get a common understanding on these issues, what precisely has he [Saddam Hussein\] to do to fully comply, within what time should it be done and what are the consequences if he does not fully comply. That would bring some clarity
"The Security Council has the responsibility and, under international law, we, as members of the UN, defer the decision making process to the Security Council - that's what the (UN) Charter says," Mr Cowen said.
Asked for the Government's position should the US-led military intervention go ahead without a new Security Council resolution, Mr Cowen declined to speculate on a "hypothetical" situation.
Mr Cowen also rejected criticism that the Government had "sat on the fence" on the Iraq crisis: "The only fence we have been interested in sitting on is the UN position because at the end of the day, whatever has been construed as the US, French or German position, it all has to come to some synthesis inside the Security Council if we're to get a coherent international response. I defy you to give me one instance of where the Irish government position has deviated one whit from that of UN Secretary General Annan.
"It is too facile to argue that you're either on one side or another when, in fact, the reality is the [differing sides\] are all inside in the Security Council and if we want a coherent position on behalf of the international community, if we want an effective multilateral response, we cannot have one side or another because they're all members of one Council."