UN: The United States scheduled its first meeting on Iraq with the full UN Security Council yesterday in an effort to pressure the 15-member body and possibly force a vote despite opposition from Russia and France.
US Ambassador Mr John Negroponte said the US draft resolution would be discussed but not necessarily introduced. "Whether we will table a resolution or simply discuss its content, we haven't finally decided that," Mr Negroponte told reporters about the private meeting.
Mr Negroponte has been negotiating for three consecutive days with the four other permanent Security Council members with veto power, but a deal was not yet in sight. Only Britain supports a revised US draft that drops explicit authorization of force if Iraq does not comply with UN demands but leaves the door open for war. Russia and France, at times supported by China, have raised objections.
By seeking support in the full council, the US is putting pressure on Russia and France and may be daring them to veto the draft. Alternatively, if opposition mounts, Washington could withdraw the resolution entirely, the diplomats said.
The US would then make its own decisions about any attack against Iraq, although going it alone would jeopardize international political support, they added.
"I think that the end is coming into sight," White House spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer told reporters. "It is not there yet, but it's coming into sight." But Mr Negroponte said he believed talks among the five powers would continue.
The Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said yesterday persistent US attempts to push through the UN Security Council a new resolution on arms inspections in Iraq are designed to contrive a pretext for attacking the country.
"The insistence of the criminal US administration on having the Security Council adopt a new resolution is clearly part of US plots to justify an aggression against Iraq," Mr Ramadan told Abu Dhabi satellite television.
"What's the justification for having a (new) resolution" after Iraq agreed in mid-September to readmit arms inspectors, asked Ramadan.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal yesterday said US failure to rein in Israeli military actions against a Palestinian uprising was poisoning Arab opinion towards Washington.Prince Saud also said he was optimistic there would not be a US-led attack on Iraq.
- (Reuters, AFP)