Change in UN may hit Bush's plans

A RESHUFFLE of the United Nations security council has thrown into doubt hopes that the US president, George Bush, would continue to use the UN as the primary means of disarming Saddam Hussein. In a major shift of power within the UN hierarchy, Germany - one of the leading opponents of military action against Iraq - was handed one of the ten non-permanent seats on the Security Council.

The accession of Germany will substantially diminish the prospect of the US achieving unanimous UN approval for military action against Iraq should Saddam continue to defy the demands of UN resolution 1441 to disarm his nuclear, chemical and biological arsenal. The chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, clinched election victory last year on the back of an anti-American campaign and has ruled out committing German troops to any military action.

However, the country’s ambassador to London insisted Berlin would not use its two-year tenure on the Security Council as a platform from which to lead opposition to war. Thomas Matussek said Germany would focus its efforts on securing a "co-operative" solution which preserved global peace and stability.

"As far as the UN is concerned, we will be very responsible and engaged in trying to secure world peace and international security, but we will concentrate on co-operative efforts to conflict resolution and we want to further develop conflict prevention strategy and post-conflict strategy. In an apparent softening of Germany’s stance, Mr Schröder used his New Year message to the say that sometimes force is necessary.

"We Germans know from our own experience that dictators sometimes can only be stopped with force," Mr Schröder said. The New York Times reported a full US army division had been dispatched to Kuwait - the largest deployment of ground troops in the state since the 1991 Gulf war.

One of the Third Infantry Division’s three combat brigades, about 4,000 soldiers, has been training in the Kuwaiti desert since September, but the unit has been told to send the rest of the more than 15,000 combat troops to join the soldiers in Kuwait, it was reported. Both Tony Blair and Mr Bush used their New Year messages to underline their resolve to use military action should Saddam continue to flout the will of the United Nations.

"The choice is Saddam’s," Mr Blair said. "No-one wants a military confrontation with Iraq, but Iraq must be disarmed of weapons of mass destruction. By going down the UN route, the international community has given Saddam the chance for peaceful disarmament. If he does not seize it, he will have to be disarmed by force."

In his message President Bush suggested the greatest danger to the American economy was the threat of an attack from Iraq. "An attack from Saddam Hussein or a surrogate of Saddam Hussein would cripple our economy. "Our economy is strong, it’s resilient, we’ve got to continue to make it strong and resilient. This economy cannot afford to stand an attack," he said.

But Lord Healey, the former Labour chancellor, warned of "disastrous consequences" should Mr Bush ignore Mr Blair’s advice and take unilateral action against Iraq. Claiming that we could not remember such an "inadequate" US president, Lord Healey said: "If he [Bush] does attack Iraq, the disastrous consequences for the American economy and the American policy would be unprecedented." The first deployment of a full US division to the Gulf area marked a significant escalation in the US military build-up.

US and British aircraft running patrols in the southern "no-fly" zone in Iraq yesterday struck a military defence radar system, a spokesman said.

The accession of Germany will substantially diminish the prospect of the US achieving unanimous UN approval for military action...

The UN is NOT OUR MASTER!!!! God spare us from any wimp that lets the UN lead him by the nose. Even Clintoon had enough guts to defy the UN.

Its resolutions can be binding under international law, and it has the power to decide war and peace issues and impose sanctions such as arms embargoes and economic restraints. They have the power to impose toilet paper privileges, to flush toilets, and to give themselves rectal exams with their fingers. They have the virile power of slingshots made from spaghetti. They strike fear in the hearts of wimpdom throughout the limp wristed globe. They hate guns and Christianity, as well as Mother's Day. They absolutely drool at the prospect of abortions and even offer cash rewards for population reduction. They are riddled with pedophiles, possibly also S&M professionals, as in the case of Hans Blix. They have been known to pollute young minds with the concepts of rape, bestiality, and sodomy. They love pension security to the point that they force all nations to contribute to Eric Waldheim's lavish pension, even though he is a former Nazi. They treat evil dictators such as Mugabe with fawning respect, show an affection for the Chief Terrosist Pardoner, for both the Great North Korea Appeasers, and they ridicule any genuine and effective leader of the Free World who ever truly accomplishes anything other than the peace effort in Ireland, which would have been ignored if it were made by someone who gave a fig about nuclear proliferation.

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