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French to propose a new memo
France opposed a second U.N. Security Council resolution on Iraq for now, a French diplomatic source said Sunday, as Washington prepared a new resolution contending Baghdad was failing to comply on disarmament demands. The diplomatic source said President Jacques Chirac believed U.N. weapons inspectors needed more time to complete their work."We are still and remain in the inspections phase" allowed for by resolution 1441 on Iraq, the diplomatic source said."Especially if it takes a really, really long time!" The source said Paris believed Washington was raising the tempo with a view to getting rapid adoption of a second resolution hot on the heels of a report that chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix is due to make on March 7. Thought it was going to be March 1st. France was preparing to present a "memorandum" to the United Nations in the next few days setting out specific tasks which might serve as benchmarks for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to comply with U.N. demands that he get rid of weapons of mass destruction. Iraq denies having such weapons. A memo was not regarded as a draft resolution, the source said. Of course not. A memo will just slow things down further and gum up the works, which is all that Chirac wants. Secretary of State Colin Powell told a news conference in Tokyo he expected the Security Council to make a judgment about a new resolution on Iraq — to be presented by the United States and Britain as early as Monday — soon after the inspectors' report on March 7. Not if the French can help it. Washington and London want a new resolution seen as paving the way for an attack on Iraq if they feel Baghdad has not complied with U.N. disarmament demands. Which the Iraqis won't do, though they'll try to make it seem as though they're cooperating a little. We'll still be arguing over whether the missiles should be destroyed. Posted by: Steve White 2003-02-24 |
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