Powell: Strong Chance U.S. May Get 9-10 U.N. Votes

Reuters/Yahoo ^ | March 9, 2003

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

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Powell: Strong Chance U.S. May Get 9-10 U.N. Votes

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) said on Sunday it was unclear if the United States would win a U.N. vote that could pave the way to war with Iraq (news - web sites) but he saw a "strong chance" it may get nine or 10 votes.

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"It's not clear yet. We will have to wait and see when the vote is taken sometime this week but I am encouraged by the discussions I have been having with a number of members of the (U.N. Security) Council," Powell told NBC's "Meet the Press" program.

"I think we have a chance to get, a strong chance ... that we might get the nine or 10 votes needed for passage of the resolution and we'll see if somebody wants to veto it," he added.

Powell said if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) did not have a change of heart and agree to give up his suspected weapons of mass destruction -- something the U.S. official said he did not expect -- then "the probability of war is rapidly increasing."

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

Powell is delusional. I listened to the Sec. Council debate last Friday. I counted the U.S., UK and Spain as definite 'for' with Bulgaria a 'maybe'. All others seemed to be either strongly against: Germany, Russia, France, China, Mexico, Chile or leaning toward a 'no' to a deadline.

Unless he drastically changes the wording, I don't see the votes.

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

Oh, Syria is a definite 'no' too, of course.

[Catspaw]

Bulgaria is a "yes" vote.

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

Now, with 5 HARD no's: France, China, Russia, Germany, Syria, the only way Powell can count '10' votes is by assuming that everyone else is on our side.

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

Please read Bulgaria's statement below. I say it leans toward a 'yes' but I would not call it a 'hard' position.

__________________________________

The draft resolution submitted by the United Kingdom, United States and Spain and the memorandum circulated by France, Germany and the Russian Federation were not incompatible, he said.  Both documents observed that inspections could not go on indefinitely.  According to the memorandum, inspections must be enhanced.  The draft was an effective means to put further pressure on Iraq, as that country continued to defy the will of the international community.  Bulgaria was prepared to support the draft resolution, adoption of which would be a logical continuation of efforts of the Council to make clear to Iraq that patience was limited.

Unity in the Council remained an objective to achieve credibility of the United Nations but also to achieve Iraq disarmament.  Nothing could replace innovative and courageous diplomacy.  Dialogue alone could bring positions together which today appeared to be “too set and too rigid”.  Achieving unity of the Council would mean overcoming unproductive positions within the European Union and strengthening transatlantic ties.  He appealed to all Council members to make an additional effort for the peaceful disarmament of Iraq.  The credibility of the United Nations and the Council was at stake.  “Peace will only have a final chance through our regained unity”, he concluded.

[gulfcoast6]

Hope France has a deep pocket.

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

“Peace will only have a final chance through our regained unity”,

This could mean that Bulgaria has absolutely and firmly decided to vote with the majority.

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

They don't need a deep pocket. They have their veto.

[Catspaw]

We can debate diplospeak, but Bulgaria has been counted in the US-UK camp since 1441. Are you saying that Bulgaria is now in the "no" camp?

[Guillermo]

Delusional?

Yeah, you are in the know just as much as he is.

Only morons think they know that what is going on behind the scenes makes it to the newswires.

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

Not at all. Read what the Bulgarian guy said. They seem to be leaning 'yes' but they strongly indicate that, in the end, they may vote with the majority. They may ask for a revised date in exchange for their vote.

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

Right, look what this WH moron is spreading:

Bush focused special attention on Russian President Vladimir Putin; after speaking by phone last Thursday, the two leaders agreed to "continue to communicate." A White House official told TIME that Putin assured Bush he wouldn't cast a veto. "There were rumors that the Russians were going to veto," says the official. "The President had a conversation and got a different impression—not that Putin was with him, but that he's not going to veto."

The 'official' claims to know the 'impression' Bush got while talking to Putin and, based on that 'impression' he predicts that Russia will not use his veto, even though Russia has publicly announced that it will 'block' the resolution.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

I hope we don't get any votes. The worst thing that could happen is to get approval from those maggots. We should be bombing the UN first.

[AnalogReigns]

Only morons think they know that what is going on behind the scenes makes it to the newswires.

You've hit the nail on the head in this whole debate. To listen to the peaceniks, you'd swear they're assuming they know as much as President Bush, Powell the CIA, NSC, and the intelligence sources of the whole Administration... Of course this is asinine, because of course if so, why even have intelligence services at all--you can just read it in the New York Times!

I think it stems because the left desperately wants to believe their own propaganda, that Bush is stupid... otherwise they know politically, their goose is cooked--and they'll be shown as the incompetent slobs they really are.