The Hindu : U.S. woos Security Council members

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 18, 2002

International

International

U.S. woos Security Council members

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington OCT. 17. The Bush administration is said to be thinking of circulating a new draft resolution on Iraq to the four other Permanent Members of the Security Council later this week, in the hope of bringing about a consensus leading to a vote. But first indications are that this might not be as easy as it sounds, for the U.S. is still insisting on the automatic trigger clause with respect to the use of military force in the event of Iraq placing fresh hurdles before weapons inspectors or going back on anything it had agreed to prior to the resumption of the new weapons inspections regime.

The U.S. has made no bones of the fact that it is deeply disappointed with some of its key allies in the Security Council, but at the same time, has continued to voice its serious opposition to other proposals, especially from Russia and France.

While Moscow is not keen on any new proposal per se, Paris would like to see two, with the Security Council voting on the use of force only after weapons inspectors report back. According to one view, the Bush administration is toying with the idea of circulating a new draft resolution, which will give a lot of latitude to what the inspections team has to say, along with a language, which will be vague enough for countries to back Washington.

For any resolution to pass the Security Council a total of nine votes out of 15 is required; and there can be no veto. On Wednesday, most of the nations participating in the open debate in the Security Council criticised the U.S. for its approach, with the Arab nations especially warning of the regional consequences of attacking Iraq.

Allies of the U.S. in the Asia-Pacific such as Japan and Australia and the European Union failed to come forward and fully endorse the U.S. stance. Even Kuwait opposed a military strike against Iraq and called for diplomacy to be supported by force. According to the scheme of things, the open debate in the Security Council will continue today; and sometime tomorrow, the U.S. will share its new draft resolution with Russia, China, Britain and France. And a vote is expected next week. With France now singled out as the main "obstacle'' to the U.S. at the United Nations, unnamed officials of the State Department have been quoted as saying that the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, intended to "get tough'' with Paris. The bottom line is that there is going to be one resolution or no resolution.

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