Posted on 02/23/2003 4:29:27 PM PST by Indy Pendance
WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 — Iraq said today that it was reluctantly studying a new United Nations demand to begin destroying missiles and rocket engines, but the Bush administration said that even the weapons' destruction would not be convincing evidence that Iraq would disarm fully.
In Tokyo, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said he expected the United Nations Security Council to vote on a new Iraq resolution, expected to authorize force, shortly after March 7. A decision on going to war would come soon thereafter, American and British officials said.
Iraqi officials said they were studying a United Nations demand made Friday for the destruction of the Al Samoud 2 missiles, but raised several objections. They also said they saw no need for Iraqi weapons scientists to be interviewed abroad — a persistent demand from both the United Nations and the United States — and they complained again that Washington was seeking grounds to justify war.
"Despite Iraq's cooperation, the evil U.S. administration has continued to throw aggressive threats," Gen. Amir al-Saadi, a top adviser to President Saddam Hussein, was quoted as saying by INA, the state news agency.
American and British officials said the diplomatic standoff was in its final stages.
They sketched a timetable for the coming weeks: a new American-backed draft resolution would be presented to the Security Council early in the week, arms inspectors would report to the United Nations again on March 7, and a vote on the resolution would be expected soon after. Military action could follow quickly.
With pressure mounting, Mr. Hussein lashed out at United States leaders today for failing to show "a minimum of manhood and chivalry." Americans could destroy buildings, he said, "but they will fail to humiliate Iraq."
Hans Blix, the chief weapons inspector, demanded on Friday that Iraq begin destroying the Al Samoud 2 missiles, along with engines and guidance and control systems, by March 1.
But Iraq contends that the missiles do not exceed the permitted 150-kilometer range when loaded. Baghdad would address the demand for their destruction through "technical dialogue," said a senior member of the ruling Baath Party, Saad Qassim Hammoudi.
President Bush said on Saturday that it would take more than the destruction of the missiles to persuade him that Iraq was moving sincerely and reliably to disarm. The Al Samouds, he said, were "just the tip of the iceberg" of illegal Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. It is time, he said, for the United Nations to conduct its "final deliberations" on Iraq.
The United States and Britain plan to present a new draft resolution as early as Monday. It would declare Iraq in defiance of the disarmament demands of Resolution 1441, and hold that military action is justified, officials have said. In "clear and simple terms," Mr. Bush said on Saturday, it will declare that Iraq has not fulfilled obligations first set out after the 1991 Gulf War and frequently repeated since.
Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain plans "a final push for peace" this week and expects that there will be a period of "a few weeks" between introduction of the new resolution and a vote, a spokesman said in London.
Mr. Bush met over the weekend with one of his closest European allies on Iraq, Prime Minister José María Aznar of Spain. From Mr. Bush's Texas ranch, the two men conferred by telephone with Mr. Blair and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, also strong backers.
The four discussed a coordinated campaign to secure the nine votes required at the Security Council to pass a new resolution, Mr. Aznar said.
Mr. Blair also spoke today by telephone with President Vladimir V. Putin. A Kremlin statement said that Mr. Putin reminded Mr. Blair of the efforts of several countries to find a diplomatic resolution to the Iraq problem.
Mr. Putin sent former Foreign Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov, who has known Mr. Hussein personally since the 1960's, to Baghdad today on a confidential mission. In 1991, the Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev sent Mr. Primakov on a peace mission to Baghdad a month after a United States-led coalition launched its war against Iraq.
In Tokyo, Mr. Powell said today that the international community would have "one last opportunity" to make a decision on Iraq after a Blix report expected on March 7.
"It isn't going to be a long period of time from the tabling of the resolution until a judgment is made as to whether the resolution is ready to be voted on or not," Mr. Powell said.
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