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Bush sure of Council clearing second resolution on Iraq

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington Feb. 23. Even as the United States is literally counting its votes at the United Nations Security Council, still not sure of picking up nine votes and no vetoes, the President, George W. Bush, is confident of a second resolution being cleared by the Council.

At his ranch in Crawford, Texas, playing host to the Prime Minister of Spain, Mr. Bush argued that Saddam Hussein "has no intention of disarming"; and maintained that a sceptical Council would eventually see things in the right perspective.

Apart from the U.S. and Britain, only Spain and Bulgaria are seen supportive of another resolution at the Security Council. "...The clarity of vision that took place four months ago, I'm confident will be in place after the Security Council takes a good look at the facts," Mr. Bush said.

He said that all talk of insufficient support for disarming Saddam "sounded vaguely familiar" — a reference to the pre-November feeling last year prior to the unanimous passing of Resolution 1441.

The Bush administration has long been maintaining that Iraq had no intention of disarming or complying with any Council resolution and was only interested in playing "games" or having the issue strung out into an indefinite time in the future.

There is a major diplomatic push under way by the administration to win over both the permanent and non-permanent members of the Council.

But various reports have it that Washington had not made any major headway even among the non-permanent members.

Allied with the U.S. at the Security Council, the Prime Minister of Spain, Jose Maria Aznar, has been quite careful in how this support translated into action.

For example, the Spanish leader was careful in Crawford about military action as a way to solve the crisis in Iraq.

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