Britain's Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, said that Saddam Hussein had eight days left to prove that he was complying with the United Nations weapons inspectors. He called Mr Colin Powell's presentation the most powerful and authoritative case against the Iraqi regime.
Mr Straw told the Security Council that it would have further reports from the inspectors by the end of next week: "If non-co-operation continues, this council must meet its responsibilities. . .then the decisions we take must have a force beyond mere words."
Mr Straw said that the UN had given President Saddam the opportunity to rid himself of weapons of mass terror, but both the reports by the weapons inspectors and the US Secretary of State's speech yesterday could leave the council under no illusions about Iraq's response.
"Saddam Hussein holds UNSCR \ 1441 in the same contempt as all previous resolutions in respect of Iraq. . .Saddam is defying every one of us, every nation here represented. He questions our resolve and is gambling that we will lose our nerve rather than enforce our will," the Foreign Secretary said.
He claimed that the UN resolution set two tests for a further material breach. One was a false statement by Iraq on its weaponry or omissions in its declaration, and the other was a failure to comply with the UN inspectors.
Mr Straw said that Iraq's declaration was "by any definition a false statement" and that it was now clear, from the report by Dr Hans Blix, the chief weapons inspector, and from Mr Powell's briefing that Iraq had failed the second test.
He said Dr Blix's report set out a number of instances where the Iraqis revealed their determination to avoid compliance. He cited refusal to allow overflights by U2 planes, failure to account for 6,500 bombs, or the prohibited precursor for mustard gas, and concealment of nuclear documents.
"Instead of open admissions and transparency, we have a charade, where a veneer of superficial co-operation masks wilful concealment. . .there is only one possible conclusion: Iraq is in further material breach as set out in resolution 1441. Security Council members will share my deep sense of frustration that Iraq is choosing to spurn this final opportunity to achieve a peaceful outcome."
Mr Straw said it would be easy to turn a blind eye to the wording of the resolution and hope for a change of heart by Iraq: "Easy but wrong. Because in doing so we would be repeating the mistake of the past 12 years and empowering a dictator who believes his diseases and poison gases are essential weapons to suppress his own people and to threaten his neighbours, and that by trickery he can indefinitely hoodwink the world."
The French Foreign Minister, Mr Dominique de Villepin, called on the Security Council to triple the number of weapons inspectors and place a full-time monitor in Baghdad to oversee the process.
Reserving his country's final decision, Mr de Villepin said France would carefully review the evidence provided by Mr Powell. But he continued to express the deep scepticism of his country, which has emerged as the major opponent of military action among the permanent members of the Security Council.
France insisted inspections were working and had resulted in major achievements.
Mr de Villepin asked fellow council members: "Why go to war, if there still exists some unused capacity [in the weapons inspectors' regime]?" He added: "Let us double, let us triple the number of inspectors. Let us open more regional offices. Let us go further than this. Could we not, for example, put up, set up, a specialised body to keep under surveillance the sites and areas that have already been inspected? Let us very significantly reinforce the capacity for monitoring and collecting information in Iraq."
The Russian Foreign Minister, Mr Igor Ivanov, said Mr Powell's evidence reinforced its belief that weapons inspections must continue. But Mr Ivanov was careful to add that the US information given yesterday would require thorough study: "Experts in our countries must get down to analysing it and drawing the appropriate conclusions from it."
Germany, the current holder of the rotating Security Council chairmanship said the evidence presented by Mr Powell had to be "examined carefully".
But the German Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, the leading European sceptic on any military action against Iraq, said: "We must continue to seek a peaceful solution to the crisis."
Meanwhile, 10 countries in eastern Europe were preparing to issue a common declaration last night affirming strong support for the US showdown with Iraq, implicitly lining up behind military action and pledging to do whatever the US requests of them.
The declaration accentuated the widening gulf between eastern and western Europe on policy towards both Iraq and the US, bolstering the US Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld's controversial view that Europe has split into new (eastern) and old (western) opposites.
The Chinese Foreign Minister, Mr Tang Jiaxuan, also came out in support of inspections continuing. "As long as there still is the slightest hope for a political settlement, we must exert our utmost effort to achieve that. China is ready to join others in working towards this direction," Mr Tang said.
- (Guardian/AFP)