E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

Axis of Weasels to support Iraq Resolution.
EFL.
Germany, France and Russia — the leading opponents to the U.S.-led war in Iraq — said they will vote in favor of a U.S.-backed resolution to help reconstruct Iraq.
Well, the Cubs got eliminated(dammit), but hell had still frozen over, so

The U.N. Security Council will vote Thursday morning on the resolution, which would authorize a multinational force under U.S. command and call for troop contributions from other countries. Plus, it seeks "substantial pledges" from the 191 U.N. member states at a donors conference in Madrid, Spain, on Oct. 23-24. The vote is expected to be a shut out, with only Syria perhaps abstaining.
Gee, I wonder WHY.
The three refused to give support for a U.N. resolution authorizing the use of force to oust deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and had differed with the United States over the timing of returning the Arab country to full sovereignty. But French officials said the European support would not translate into the funds and troops sought by the United States to ease the burden of American forces in Iraq. "We agreed that the resolution is really an important step in the right direction," Schroeder said after a 45-minute conference call with presidents Jacques Chirac (search) of France and Vladimir Putin (search) of Russia. "Many things have been included from what we proposed. This led us ... to jointly agree to the resolution."

Putin, who was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as a special observer at an Islamic summit, said the leaders had agreed on a common position, but didn’t give details. U.S. officials had said Wednesday they expected Russia to vote "yes" Thursday, and probably Germany as well, and weren’t ruling out approval by France, the most outspoken critic of Washington’s Iraq policies. China indicated it might support for the resolution that Washington also hopes will set Iraq on its way to independence. "Our attitude has become more and more positive," said China’s U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya, whose country supported the package of French-Russian-German amendments. "For China, what we want to see is a stronger role for the U.N. and early return of the sovereignty. At this stage, I think this resolution is far from what (we) expect. But I think as council members, we should always be ready to make compromises," he said Wednesday. Although the Security Council remains split on how fast to transfer power to Iraqis -- and who should oversee Iraq’s political transition from a dictatorship to a democracy -- the compromise appeared to be part of an effort to send a more united message on the importance of returning sovereignty to Iraq.
We’d better, but there’s some things we have to do first.
Posted by: Atrus 2003-10-16
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=19953