U.S. resolution on Iraq may not go to UN vote
UNITED NATIONS, New York A United States-led draft resolution to set the stage for a military confrontation with Iraq may not be put to a vote before the United Nations Security Council because of a French threat to veto the measure, Spain's foreign minister told reporters in Madrid on Wednesday.
"Clearly, not putting it to a vote is a possibility which is being considered," said Ana Palacio, the foreign minister. "We are considering it, above all in view of the already absolute and emphatic affirmation by France of a veto, because a veto is undoubtedly something which has consequences for the United Nations system."
A Foreign Ministry spokesman later played down Palacio's remarks, saying that she "was only referring to a hypothetical situation in the sense that there is a very distant possibility that a second resolution might not be presented." The Spanish prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, echoed those remarks in a speech to Parliament as his government sought to distance itself from Palacio's comments. "I will not resign myself to the United Nations Security Council showing itself to be incapable of complying with resolutions it was capable of passing unanimously," Reuters quoted him as saying. "We are working so that the Security Council maintains its respect, its credibility and that it be a guarantor for peace and world security." Nonetheless, Spain is a sponsor of the draft resolution, along with Britain and the United States, and Palacio's comments add a new level of uncertainty to the measure's chances of passing muster within the Security Council. The draft resolution, which finds Iraq in breach of UN requirements that it disarm, requires approval from nine of the Security Council's 15 members to pass. All five of the council's permanent members Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States can independently veto a resolution by voting against it.