POLITICS: U.N.’s Veto-Wielding Members Split Over War on Iraq

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 20 2003 (IPS) - France and China – two veto-wielding permanent members of the U.N. Security Council – charted a collision course with the United States on Monday, expressing strong reservations about a possible U.N.-sanctioned military attack on Iraq.

The international community must sustain ”a consensus” and cannot afford the luxury of a ”military shortcut” to resolve the Iraqi crisis, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told reporters, adding that U.N. arms inspectors should be given more time to complete their work.

Following a Security Council resolution, the inspectors arrived in Iraq in November. Team leaders are to update the Council on their progress Jan. 27, but it’s believed the group, which now numbers about 150, would need many more months to fully search the country for evidence of weapons of mass destruction.

U.S. officials have suggested in recent days that, no matter what next week’s report says, Iraq is not cooperating fully with inspectors, lending weight to the theory that a U.S. attack is imminent.

But Villepin hinted that France could use its veto to torpedo any U.S.-sponsored Security Council resolution that calls for war on Iraq.

”On principles, we will go to the very end,” he said, calling military intervention the ”worst possible solution” to the crisis. France would support such a solution only after every other avenue has been explored, he added.

”We will not associate ourselves with military intervention which is not supported by the international community,” Villepin stressed. ”Let us be prudent. Can the world afford such an initiative?,” he asked.

China’s foreign minister Tang Jiaxuan insisted that the inspectors should be given more time to search for weapons before any decision is taken on military action.

Next week’s report, he said, is only the beginning, not the end of the process.

Contrary to the Chinese view, the United States has maintained that the inspector’s report could be the deciding factor in determining a U.S. military attack on Iraq.

Asked how Washington would reconcile its position with that of China, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell insisted that next week’s report would not be the beginning. ”They (the Iraqis) have known for years how many chemical weapon warheads they have,” Powell said.

”They know what they have. It is their obligations to come forward. They cannot dribble this information as long as they choose to,” he added.

The comments on Iraq came on the sidelines of a high-level Security Council meeting on terrorism attended by 13 foreign ministers, including British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

Straw said that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein should stop playing a game of ”cat and mouse” and come clean about the country’s arms.

Britain has remained the most steadfast supporter of the United States but has recently hinted that it may support the need for a second Security Council resolution on Iraq before an attack could proceed.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer drew a link between the ongoing war on terrorism and a possible attack on Iraq.

”We are greatly concerned that a military strike against the regime in Baghdad would involve considerable and unpredictable risks for the global war on terrorism,” he said.

”We want to avoid any other negative developments. Our number one priority should be the war on terrorism,” Fischer said.

The U.S.-led ‘war on terrorism’ was prompted by the multiple terrorist attacks on the United States on Sep. 11, 2001.

Fischer stressed that Germany remains opposed to a war against Iraq. ”Our position is very clear. We will not be part of any military action,” he said.

Germany, he added, wants to avoid military action by ensuring the successful implementation of Security Council resolution 1441, which authorised the current inspections.

That resolution calls on Iraq to cooperate with U.N. inspectors and urges Baghdad to make a full and complete declaration of all its nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

”We will stick firmly to the resolution,” Fischer said. ”We have inspectors on the ground. They are doing a good job. We will await their report about these results next Monday”.

But Powell said that resolution 1441 states clearly that Iraq is obligated to provide a complete and accurate declaration to U.N. inspectors.

”So far, Iraq has not complied. We get only more of the same. And so we will anxiously await the inspectors’ report next Monday,” he said.

Asked if the United States would seek a second resolution before a military attack, Powell said, ”I would not prejudge now what the Security Council would do with regard to a second resolution”.

”Iraq does not seem to understand the seriousness of the situation,” he added. ”We will not allow Iraq to frustrate the will of the United Nations. If the United Nations is to be relevant, it has to take a firm stand with respect to Iraq continuing to disregard its obligations.”