IRAQ: The United States and France yesterday appeared on the brink of agreement on a UN resolution that would allow weapons inspectors to test Iraq's co-operation before any possible military action.
But diplomats said differences were still crucial enough for the Bush administration to postpone calls for a vote until after Tuesday's mid-term elections or run the risk of failure.
"It is looking better than it ever was," said one Western diplomat closely involved in the negotiations. "There is a small ravine left but it is still 400 feet deep." He said language was being exchanged among capitals of the key players as well as in New York on the resolution that gives UN inspectors licence to search anywhere for Iraq's suspected weapons of mass destruction and threatens "serious consequences" if Baghdad balks.
But the full council has not scheduled another meeting.
"We need a tough resolution that includes a tough inspections regime and provides for consequences if Saddam Hussein continues his defiance," White House spokesman Mr Scott McClellan told reporters travelling with President Bush on a campaign trip to South Dakota.
At issue is what France, Russia and China call "hidden triggers" in the US-British sponsored resolution that would allow Washington to launch a military strike against Iraq, overthrow President Saddam Hussein and claim afterward it had United Nations authorisation.
France, which is leading the resistance with broad support at the United Nations, wants to postpone any possible use of force until after the council had ascertained that Iraq was in further "material breach" of its obligations by failing to co-operate with UN weapons inspectors.
The United States has consented to France's two-step approach by agreeing to put off off any military strike until after chief UN arms inspector Mr Hans Blix reports to the Security Council on Iraqi violations.
But the Bush administration has resisted France's call to tie future action to a decision by the council on the seriousness of Baghdad's failure to comply.
"We want to make sure that any resolution does not handcuff the ability of the United States to act either on its own or with the international community to disarm Saddam Hussein if he continues his decade of defiance," Mr McClellan said.
After a third council session on the resolution on Wednesday, Russian diplomats appeared more conciliatory than in the past but said they still had problems with the text. Other council members also have suggested various changes.
"The United States and the United Kingdom need to absorb the results of the last three meetings," Britain's UN ambassador Sir Jeremy Greenstock said yesterday. "We are taking into account what we've learned."
US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell said the debate would probably be concluded sometime next week, taking into account other changes recommended by council members.
Meanwhile, Iraq's fractured opposition groups are expected to hold their biggest gathering in a decade when they meet in mid-November for talks that could lead to the formation of a provisional government, according to Mr Jalal Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
Speaking yesterday in Tehran, Mr Talabani said about 200 representatives were expected to meet in Brussels.