|
US signals action against France
Le payback sucks, non? EFRUnited States Secretary of State Colin Powell has said France will suffer consequences for having opposed the US over the war with Iraq. Speaking on a television programme, Mr Powell said the US had to review its relationship with France following its promise to veto any United Nations Security Council resolution authorising war against Iraq. News of Mr Powell's comments came after the French ambassador to the United Nations, in an unexpected move, proposed the immediate suspension of UN sanctions against Iraq. The United States has been pressing for the sanctions to be lifted now that US-led forces have ousted Saddam Hussein's regime. "It's over and we have to take a look at the relationship," Mr Powell said of ties with France, according to a transcript of an interview on the Charlie Rose Show provided by the State Department. "We have to look at all aspects of our relationship with France in light of this." Asked if there were consequences for having opposed the US, Mr Powell replied "yes" but did not elaborate. Senior US officials are reported to have debated tough measures against France at a high-level meeting on Monday. One US official was quoted as saying: "They are trying to find ways to create alternative mechanisms for dealing with the French, or rather without them, and not just at Nato, but more broadly." US diplomats had earlier welcomed France's initiative on sanctions, described by the BBC's UN correspondent Greg Barrow as a significant shift in its position. The French ambassador, Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, said the sanctions issue was linked by past Security Council resolutions to a certification of Iraqi disarmament. "So meanwhile, we could suspend the sanctions and adjust the oil-for-food [programme] with an idea of its phasing out," he told reporters, following a briefing by UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix. Mr de la Sabliere spoke of the need for new arrangements so that UN inspectors could work alongside US forces to finish the job of certifying whether Iraq is free of banned weapons. France had earlier insisted that UN inspectors alone had the authority to hunt for weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Since the war the US has deployed its own teams to look for banned weapons, which it cited as the key reason for launching war, but so far none are reported to have been found. Like France, Russia also indicated its readiness to consider a gradual suspension of sanctions pending a final future decision that Iraq has relinquished all WMD. Sounds like the Weasels are beginning to sober up. Look forward the the hangover from hell, rodents! Posted by: Anonymous 2003-04-23 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=13390 |