Powell says UN Ought to Hold Up Iraq Inspections

[sassa]

Powell Says U.N. Ought to Hold Up Iraq Inspections

By TODD S. PURDUM with JULIA PRESTON

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 — Hours after Iraq agreed with United Nations officials that weapons inspectors could return in two weeks, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said tonight that any search of Saddam Hussein's arsenals should be delayed until the Security Council approves a "new, strong, tough resolution" setting terms.

"We will not be satisfied with Iraqi half-truths or Iraqi compromises or Iraqi efforts to get us back into the same swamp that they took the United Nations into" in the past, Secretary Powell said at a hastily called news conference at the State Department as the Bush administration scrambled to salvage its push for a new United Nations resolution.

After two days of meetings with an Iraqi delegation in Vienna, Hans Blix, the leader of the United Nations weapons inspection team, said, "There is a willingness to accept inspections that has not existed before."

Iraqi officials agreed to allow the inspectors to do their work under the terms of existing Security Council resolutions, but did not respond to American demands for access to palaces and other tough new provisions that Washington wants.

The Iraqi strategy was apparently an appeal to France, Russia and China, all of whom hold vetoes on the Council and have expressed wariness of the desire of the United States and Britain for a new resolution threatening military action if Iraq does not disarm.

In the face of such reservations, the Americans and British delayed presenting the formal draft of a new resolution to the Security Council today as they had planned. Instead, Secretary Powell said the administration would work "over the next couple of weeks" to get a new resolution.

The draft resolution prepared by the United States and Britain would make the inspectors' mandate far more intrusive. [Excerpts, Page A12.]

That mandate would include creating no-flight and no-drive zones protected by United Nations or United States security forces along the routes that the inspectors would travel, according to extensive excerpts obtained by The New York Times. The proposal also calls for the inspectors to be guarded by "sufficient United Nations security forces" for their protection. It would expand the presence of United Nations or American security forces on the ground or in the skies over Iraq even while the inspections were under way, in advance of any military strike if Iraq failed to comply with the Council's terms.

In a sharply worded diplomatic challenge, Secretary Powell said tonight that the United States would resist any inspections until the Security Council provided stringent new instructions.

"Dr. Blix, as an agent of the Security Council, will carry out what the Security Council instructs him to do," Secretary Powell said.

He added: "It was up to Dr. Blix to work out certain technical details and modalities, which is what he did. But as Dr. Blix made clear, the only discussion he could have was on the basis of the old resolutions. But we have made it clear that those old resolutions are what got us in trouble in the first place."

Secretary Powell said there had been "some progress" on a new resolution with Russia, China and France.

"We have heard some strong views coming back from some of our partners," he said, adding, "I think there's an understanding that we have to deal with this now and not next year, and to deal with it now, you need to have the strongest resolution we can come up with, and we have to have consequences associated with continued violation."

In a meeting at the United Nations today with China, France and Russia, the other three veto-bearing members of the Council, American and British diplomats discussed "concepts" in the draft, diplomats said, but did not bring a text for negotiation, as they had said they would on Monday. The United States also did not follow through on its offer on Monday to provide informal copies of the draft to the 10 nonpermanent members of the Council.

The United States and Britain moved to slow the pace of the discussions after the three other permanent members remained adamant in their opposition to the American proposal for a resolution authorizing a unilateral military attack by the United States and any ally if Washington determined that Iraq had made even minor violations. American envoys provided the text to the three other permanent nations in their capitals over the weekend.

"The United States is in a negotiating mood because they realized they are not going to get what they want by bending arms," one Council diplomat said. "They might have to adjust themselves to the Security Council. They cannot say from the outset: take it or leave it."

Still, a senior State Department official said today that the United States would go into "thwart mode" if Mr. Blix sought to return to Iraq without fresh instructions.

Secretary Powell appeared in the State Department briefing room on a few minutes' warning, just in time for evening news broadcasts, apparently in an effort to counter Mr. Blix's optimistic-sounding announcement and to make it clear that the United States would keep up pressure for a new resolution.

"The Iraqis made some concessions," he said of the talks with Mr. Blix, but added: "In other areas, they made no concessions. It was the same old, the same old stuff. And so we want to have a fuller discussion with Dr. Blix to see what he thinks was accomplished.

"But we have made it clear that we do not believe the inspection regime that existed previously is adequate to the demands of the day and adequate to the challenge we're facing right now with continued Iraqi intransigence."

Other Security Council members sought to capitalize on the announcement from Vienna to build support for their approach. French diplomats hope to attract support for their proposal for two stages: a first resolution to establish a toughened regime for the weapons inspections and a second resolution authorizing military force if Iraq fails to allow unrestricted inspections.

Secretary Powell said, "We're pressing forward on a one-resolution solution," but he added, "We will see which argument prevails."

Mr. Bush himself seemed to soften his tone about military action against Iraq today, saying he was open to compromises with both Congress and the United Nations as long as both passed "tough" resolutions that did not tie his hands.

Many Council nations regarded the forceful inspection regime proposed in the American and British draft as too aggressive for Iraq to accept. In addition to allowing American fighter planes and security forces greater access to Iraqi airspace, the proposal cancels all the exemptions the United Nations had agreed with Iraq before 1998 for inspections of presidential compounds and other "sensitive sites."

The Council majority is also reluctant to endorse the hair trigger that the United States proposes. Any errors in a "currently accurate, full and complete declaration of all aspects" of its programs to develop weapons of mass destruction, or "failure by Iraq at any time to comply and cooperate fully," would constitute "a further material breach . . . that authorizes member states to use all necessary means to restore international peace and security in the area."

The draft would allow the United States to place its own inspectors on the United Nations weapons team. Several Council diplomats observed that this demand ran counter to a recent reform of the weapons teams by the Security Council, when they were reorganized to rely on an international staff of arms professionals rather than experts provided by individual countries.

The reform followed the disclosure that a United States spy on the United Nations team had planted an electronic eavesdropping device in Baghdad that helped guide allied bombing in December 1998.

The draft also demands the names of all Iraqi weapons personnel.

[nycmuzik]

I agree with Powell....Pass tougher resolutions...The inspections they agreed to now are pointless....Saddam still has the presidential palace's that are off limits to inspectors....There is more than plenty of room for him to hide whatever weapons he wants in there....Even the chief UN weapons inspector said before these meetings got underway that he wants Iraq to open these palace's up to the inspectors....But as usual, they back off...More proof to show that the UN is a bitch to Iraq.....

[kramadas]

n

[kramadas]

Originally posted by sassa

The reform followed the disclosure that a United States spy on the United Nations team had planted an electronic eavesdropping device in Baghdad that helped guide allied bombing in December 1998.

The draft also demands the names of all Iraqi weapons personnel.

yeah, sure, why not open up all his palaces and grounds for more American spies to plant evesdropping devices?

[asianvixen]

Originally posted by raver_mania

yeah, sure, why not open up all his palaces and grounds for more American spies to plant evesdropping devices?

silly comment. un inspectors are neutral. they're not affiliated the u.s. and won't be planting bugs for anyone. is everything a conspiracy to u?

[kramadas]

Originally posted by asianvixen

silly comment. un inspectors are neutral. they're not affiliated the u.s. and won't be planting bugs for anyone. is everything a conspiracy to u?

Maybe you didn't get my point. Are you aware that the last UN team HAD US spies - its a disclosed fact. Freakin read the above article carefully!