Posted on 11-11-2002

Tough Iraq Resolution From UN
From NYT article by Julia Preston, 9 Nov02

(Photo shows Kofi Anna and Hans Blix)

The passage of the resolution was the signal to begin the weapons
inspections. The chief United Nations inspector for chemical and biological
weapons, Hans Blix, announced that he would travel to Baghdad to begin work
on Nov. 19. He will be accompanied by Mohamed ElBaradei, the chief atomic
weapons inspector. Mr. Blix and Mr. ElBaradei will arrive with only a small
group of technicians to begin logistics planning for the weapons teams. The
first group of about a dozen arms experts will arrive within 7 to 10 days.
Within 30 days, Iraq must present a complete declaration of all its weapons
programs. Any omissions or false statements will constitute a new "material
breach" that will begin the "serious consequences" threatened in the
resolution. Full scale inspections by both United Nations teams must begin
within 45 days. Both weapons chiefs welcomed the enhanced authority the
resolution gives them.

While the resolution gave the Bush administration powerful new backing for
its political confrontation with Mr. Hussein, most Council nations made it
clear that they still did not support any rush to war. "What is most
important is that the resolution deflects the direct threat of war, and
opens the road to further work in the interest of a diplomatic settlement,"
said Sergey Lavrov, the ambassador from Russia, the most reluctant of the
five permanent, veto-bearing members of the Council.

It was not clear today what horse-trading Washington had done with France,
Russia and Mexico, its reluctant allies, to bring them around. But
diplomats from several Council nations said the Bush administration had
bargained very effectively merely by stepping back from its threats to
start immediate war in the Middle East with only a single ally, Britain.

There was no response today from Baghdad, which was officially notified of
the resolution by the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, at
10:52 a.m. The Iraqi ambassador here, Mohammed Aldouri, said, "Iraq will
certainly study the resolution and decide whether we can accept it or not."

Baghdad now has seven days to advise the Council whether it is willing to
comply with the resolution.

The Council consensus on the resolution, which was sponsored by the United
States and Britain, was achieved through a complex compromise struck in two
months of arduous, often exasperating, discussions led by Secretary of
State Colin L. Powell. While the vote was unanimous, the Council delegates
articulated differing interpretations of why they supported it, how it
could be carried out and how it affected their national prerogatives... the
American ambassador also extended a specific assurance to France and other
doubting nations that the resolution "contains no hidden triggers" and no
automatic basis for the use of force. Mr. Negroponte said the United States
was committed to coming back to the Council to discuss new Iraqi
violations. Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the British ambassador, echoed that
assurance.

To underscore their understanding, China, France and Russia issued a
separate statement today insisting that it was up to the United Nations
weapons inspectors to report any violations to the Council, and up to the
Council to "take a position." France led the way in insisting that military
action could be authorized only in a second stage, after the weapons
inspectors did their work and if and when they detected Iraqi violations of
the inspections regime.

In the resolution, the Security Council gives Iraq a "final opportunity" to
comply with disarmament resolutions and establishes a rigorous regiment of
inspections, giving United Nations inspectors immediate access to any site
they want in Iraq. The text warns of "serious consequences" if Iraq commits
any other violation — meaning war. But such violations must be reported by
the inspectors to the Council, which will meet to decide what to do.

The support of Russia and Syria had remained in doubt as recently as
Thursday night. President Assad shifted his position this morning, minutes
before the vote, after receiving telephone calls from Mr. Annan and
President Jacques Chirac of France. Mr. Chirac sought to persuade the
Syrian leader that the resolution was the last chance to avoid war in the
Middle East, French diplomats said. "War is much less likely if you support
the resolution than if you don't," Mr. Chirac told Mr. Assad, a diplomat said.

President Putin, who spoke with President Bush on Thursday morning, was
persuaded late that night by the change of two words made in the draft late
Thursday afternoon, senior administration officials said. They agreed to
change the word "or" to "and" in one paragraph and to say the Council would
act to "secure" peace rather than "restore" it in another. To leaders who
had been embroiled for weeks in arguing word by word about the draft, those
seemingly minute revisions signaled that Washington and London were serious
about returning to the Council before declaring war for another round of
talks if the weapons inspectors reported breaches by Iraq.

The Russian foreign minister, Igor S. Ivanov, called Secretary Powell only
this morning to say that Mr. Putin had agreed to come on board, the
administration officials said.

China, a permanent Council member that also waited until today to disclose
its position, said it wanted to see a peaceful, "comprehensive" settlement
in Iraq, including the lifting one day of the tough economic sanctions
imposed at the end of the Persian Gulf war in 1991.

Mexico, a United States neighbor that holds one of 10 nonpermanent seats on
the Council, supported the resolution after Mr. Chirac threw his support
behind it on Thursday night.

The consensus vote was satisfying to Mr. Annan, who had insisted since the
start of the negotiations that a divided decision would be a disaster for
the United Nations and for the prospects of peace in the Middle East. "I
know that it has not been easy to reach agreement," he said. "But the
effort has been well worthwhile. Whenever the Council is united, it sends a
very powerful signal." Mr. Annan urged Iraq "for the sake of its own
people, for the sake of world security and world order" to seize the
opportunity offered by the resolution. He cautioned that the next phase of
the weapons inspections would be "difficult and dangerous," calling it
another "time of trial" for the United Nations.