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No rally to Powell's evidence at U.N.
UPI | 2/05/03 | Roland Flamini

Posted on 02/05/2003 1:44:05 PM PST by kattracks

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Ten out of 14 members of the U.N. Security Council Wednesday called for the continuation and strengthening of weapons inspections in Iraq despite U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's dramatic 75-minute expose of Saddam Hussein's secret build-up of weapons of mass destruction.

At the same time, all called on Iraq to cooperate with the U.N. inspectors.

Powell was hoping to rally the members of the 15-member council with what on Monday he called "a straightforward, sober and compelling demonstration that Iraq is deliberately thwarting U.N. weapons inspectors." But the report embellished, with photographs, de-classified reports, and taped telephone intercepts, received the public support of only Britain, Spain, Bulgaria and Chile.

In their statements following Powell's speech, representatives of other permanent and non-permanent members said inspection procedures needed to be tightened and the inspections should continue.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw compared the current U.N. approach to Iraq to the inactivity of world powers between the wars that led to the rise of Hitler and World War II. Straw said the United Nations' predecessor, the League of Nations, "had the same high ideals as the U.N." but failed to take action. As a result, "small evils went unchecked, tyrants were emboldened, then greater evils were unleashed."

The League of Nations was founded in 1919 in the wake of World War I, but was disbanded in 1939, having failed to prevent World War II.

"At each stage, good men said wait; the evil is not big enough to challenge," Straw went on. "Then before our eyes the evil became too big to challenge. ... We owe it to our history as well as to our future not to make the same mistake again."

Britain has strongly backed the Bush administrations' hard line in seeking to disarm what they sight as Saddam Hussein's chemical and biological arsenal. British troops are being deployed along side the massive U.S. military force in the Persian Gulf in preparation for an eventual attack on Iraq.

Straw stopped short of explicitly threatening armed action against a non-compliant Iraq. "Saddam must be left in no doubt as to the serious situation he now faces," he said. "If non-cooperation continues, this Council must meet its responsibilities."

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin called for the inspections to be strengthened, and outlined procedures for making them more effective. "Why go to war if there still exists an unused space in Resolution 1441?" he asked.

The Security Council's Resolution 1441 of Nov. 8 was the basis for sending weapons inspectors back to Iraq after a four-year hiatus, and called on Iraq's full cooperation.

"With the choice between military intervention and an inspections regime that is inadequate for lack of cooperation on Iraq's part, we must choose to strengthen decisively the means of inspection," Villepin said.

The French foreign minister proposed doubling or tripling the number of inspectors, opening more regional offices, and setting up a clearing house of intelligence information to make it available to the inspectors in real time. He also suggested appointing a permanent U.N. coordinator for disarmament in Iraq, stationed in Baghdad and working under the authority of Hans Blix, the U.N. head of the inspection process.

Villepin said France was offering Mirage IV observer aircraft to boost the technical capability for monitoring and collecting information.

He also called on Saddam Hussein to cooperate actively by surrendering "documents on unresolved disarmament questions, in particular in the biological and chemical domains," and providing the inspectors "with answers to the new elements presented by Colin Powell."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Ivaov and Syria's permanent representative to the U.N. Mikhail Wehbe were the only two speakers to raise the issue of a second Security Council resolution to gain time and put further pressure on the Iraqi regime. The Bush administration has not said it is opposed to a second resolution, but would want it to be a U.N. ultimatum authorizing an invasion of Iraq if Saddam Hussein did not disarm.

But Ivanov called for "a political settlement." He said Powell's evidence should be handed to the two organizations involved -- the International Atomic Energy Agency, and UNMOVIC, the U.N. Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission -- for verification.

"The activities of the international inspectors in Iraq must be continued," Ivanov said. "They alone can help the Security Council work out and adopt the best possible decisions."

Russia, with China, France, Britain and the United States, are veto-wielding members of the Security Council.

Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan urged Iraq "to adopt a more pro-active approach, make further explanations and clarification as soon as possible and cooperate with the inspection process." He also observed that "it is the universal desire of the international community to see a political settlement to the issue of Iraq within the U.N. framework and avoid any war."

Joschka Fischer, foreign minister of Germany, which currently holds the presidency of the Security Council, called the Saddam Hussein regime "inhuman and brutal," and said there was widespread belief that the Iraqis were hiding weapons of mass destruction, particularly chemical and biological weapons. But "by tightening the inspections, we are creating an opportunity for a peaceful solution," he went on. The United Nations needs "tough, intensive inspections that can guarantee the full, lasting, disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction."



TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: unlist; warlist
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1 posted on 02/05/2003 1:44:05 PM PST by kattracks
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To: kattracks
At the same time, all called on Iraq to cooperate with the U.N. inspectors

Come on...won't ya please? We'll forget the OTHER 17 TIMES BEFORE THAT YOU BROKE RESOLUTIONS.

Don't cross this line....ok, don't cross THIS line.Ok.............

2 posted on 02/05/2003 1:47:03 PM PST by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I will defend to your death my right to say it.)
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To: kattracks
The U.N. is irrelevant. This will be shown, in the field, shortly.
3 posted on 02/05/2003 1:47:44 PM PST by tomahawk
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To: kattracks
What past or present activities of the UN in this matter portend future success? None.

What past or present activities of the UN and Iraq in this matter portend future delay and deceit? All.

What past or present activities of the UN and Iraq in this matter display a concern for the safety of the USA? None.

I think it's a shame to waste one more minute trying to convince the UN and Iraq to cooperate.
4 posted on 02/05/2003 1:49:09 PM PST by Puddleglum
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To: tomahawk
The United Nations. Buh Bye.
5 posted on 02/05/2003 1:49:31 PM PST by AmericanInTokyo (Anybody else like me on here who desperately has to now go to the bathroom??!!)
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To: kattracks
Come on, GW, it's time to pull the plug on the UN.
6 posted on 02/05/2003 1:51:32 PM PST by Digger
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To: kattracks
The unwritten goal is becoming accomplished. We got exactly what we wanted today, the UN declared itself irrelevant. After we wipe out Saddam in a week, all future UN involvement in any scenario involving the US will be ignored.
7 posted on 02/05/2003 1:54:22 PM PST by T. Jefferson
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To: AmericanInTokyo
Powell was hoping to rally the members of the 15-member council with what on Monday he called "a straightforward, sober and compelling demonstration that Iraq is deliberately thwarting U.N. weapons inspectors." Actually, I think Powell has reached the sane conclusion that the U.N. is now impotent and he was merely illustrating that irrelevance with patience to present their lack of results. Seventeen resolutions(?) from the SC of the U.N., without a single tooth in any of them, and the toothless frogshow is exposed for what it is.
8 posted on 02/05/2003 1:54:49 PM PST by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote Life Support for others.)
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To: T. Jefferson
Come on, GW, it's time to pull the plug on the UN.

Yup. It's overdue.
9 posted on 02/05/2003 1:55:43 PM PST by pt17
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To: pt17
Come on, GW, it's time to pull the plug on the UN.

Yup. It's overdue.

Party's over!

10 posted on 02/05/2003 1:58:07 PM PST by Free_at_last_-2001
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To: kattracks
All of the responses given by Security Council members were "canned" comments prepared days before Powell's presentation. One cannot judge the UN's ultimate response to Powell's evidence based on the words spoken today. That being said, I thought the comments of some of the members were absurd and outrageous. It was particularly difficult to stomach Joschka Fischer (the German Foreign Minister). He was an activist anti-war protestor thirty years ago. His relationship with some of his fellow travelers from that era came into question recently. He was accused of perjury for claiming he never lived with one who went on to become a member of the Red Army terrorist faction. He weaseled out of a perjury charge by using the Clintonian "I don't recall that" defense.
11 posted on 02/05/2003 1:58:45 PM PST by jpthomas
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To: Puddleglum
Meanwhile the UN appoints Iraq to head the disarmament committee. Does anyone else need a more graphic illustration of the UN's irrelevancy?
12 posted on 02/05/2003 1:58:45 PM PST by Arkie2
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To: Puppage
Sadaam needs pushed to the limit. They should put 10,000 inspectors into Iraq if necessary. The facilities that they showed at the UN should have been bombed by now. They constantly overfly Iraq, there is no reason these sites haven't been taken out by now. The palaces should have been bombed to smithareens by now. We have to get rid of as many suspected sites as possible before troops go in. It is suicide to let these bio and chemical sites exist before the invasion.
13 posted on 02/05/2003 1:59:21 PM PST by meenie
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To: tomahawk
The U.N. is irrelevant. This will be shown, in the field, shortly.

The UN = the Starwars Counsel that was also totally useless.

14 posted on 02/05/2003 1:59:23 PM PST by biblewonk
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To: Puppage
Sadaam needs pushed to the limit. They should put 10,000 inspectors into Iraq if necessary. The facilities that they showed at the UN should have been bombed by now. They constantly overfly Iraq, there is no reason these sites haven't been taken out by now.

The palaces should have been bombed to smithareens by now. We have to get rid of as many suspected sites as possible before troops go in. It is suicide to let these bio and chemical sites exist before the invasion.

15 posted on 02/05/2003 2:00:04 PM PST by meenie
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To: kattracks
Looks like it's time for another W lecture at the UN about irrelevance.
16 posted on 02/05/2003 2:00:18 PM PST by ladtx (Hey, what's this line for?)
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To: kattracks


17 posted on 02/05/2003 2:01:27 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY (((Get Saddam Now!)))
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To: kattracks
Hardly any calls for a second resolution. They're slapping Blair's face.
18 posted on 02/05/2003 2:01:32 PM PST by colorado tanker (weasel habitat is endangered)
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To: kattracks
FINE! We'll go without you weenies - and WE WILL KEEP AAAALLLLLLL THE SPOILS FOR OURSELVES!!!
19 posted on 02/05/2003 2:01:43 PM PST by CyberAnt ( Yo! Syracuse)
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To: kattracks
I'm beginning to think that Blair is painfully aware of Chamberlain's legacy and doesn't want to go down in history as Chamberlain II. Tony may be left-leaning but he certainly isn't an idiot.
20 posted on 02/05/2003 2:01:44 PM PST by Question_Assumptions (``)
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