The Hindu : Substantial changes in U.S. draft on Iraq

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 07, 2002

International

International

Substantial changes in U.S. draft on Iraq

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington nov. 6. The U.S. is presenting its revised draft resolution on Iraq to the Permanent Members of the United Nations Security Council later in the day; and the Bush administration is making the point that though there are substantial alterations since it was presented four weeks ago, it did not `handcuff' the U.S.

The expectation now is that the U.S. will share and consult Britain, France, Russia and China on the resolution in New York; tomorrow the draft will be circulated to the non-permanent members; and a final vote is expected by the end of the week.

The seriousness with which the administration is going about this resolution can be seen in the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, involving himself in its revision and said to be going over the language with his counterparts of France and Russia. But neither Moscow nor Paris has firmly said that it has signed on to this version.

According to a report, Washington has changed the tone and tenor of its earlier version taking into account specific references to Iraq being in "material breach'' and warning the Iraqi regime of "serious consequences'' should it continue to flout U.N. Resolutions. France and Russia were apprehensive that if the U.S. insisted on using these phrases, it would amount to a back door route for launching a military strike against Baghdad without formal authorisation of the world body. But the Bush administration has all along maintained that it does not need a second resolution to go after Iraq militarily. The existing Resolutions aside, the Republican administration is making the point that the President has the authorisation from the U.S. Congress.

The revised draft apparently states that Iraq "has been and remains in material breach'' of its obligations; but that the Security Council now gives Baghdad a "final opportunity'' to comply with its disarmament obligations.

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