WASHINGTON: Britain and the US on Friday signalled their readiness to attack Iraq without a UN mandate if the security council fails to agree on a common course of action.
As the five permanent members of the council haggled over the wording for a new resolution on weapons inspections, both the UK foreign secretary, Jack Straw, and the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, threatened to go it alone.
“We are completely committed to the United Nations route if that is successful. If, for example, we end up being vetoed on statements which are as plain as daylight that Iraq is in flagrant breach of United Nations resolutions, then of course we are in a different situation,” Mr Straw told BBC Radio.
The remarks appeared to be aimed primarily at France, which has led opposition in the security council to a new resolution on weapons inspections which would pave the way for military action if Iraq fails to cooperate.
The US softened the tone of its draft this week, dropping language explicitly threatening the use of force. Russia indicated it was prepared to accept the changes, but it was unclear last night whether they went far enough for France, which has sought to avoid giving the green light to an invasion.
The French government wants the issue of force to be dealt with in a second resolution to be debated if Baghdad blocks inspections aimed at rooting out its suspected arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.
Mr Powell added to the pressure on Paris overnight, threatening to bypass the UN process. “The United States does not need any additional authority even now, if we thought it was necessary to take action to defend ourselves,” the secretary of state said.
Diplomats at the UN in New York were standing by last night in case France agreed to the new US resolution, in which case ambassadors from the permanent five nations were ready to convene a meeting to sign off on an agreed text. That would then be circulated to the ten other security council members
According to western officials at the UN, the current US draft envisages further consultation with the security council if Iraq fails to cooperate. In that case, the draft stipulates, the inspectors would report immediately, triggering a security council meeting “to consider the situation and the need for full compliance with all relevant security council resolutions ... in order to restore international peace and security”.
That wording is not an explicit mandate for war, but nor does it commit the US and Britain to waiting for a second resolution authorising action.
Mr Powell made that clear in impromptu remarks in New York. He said: “We believe one resolution is appropriate. And obviously the council can always go off and have other discussions any time it chooses.”—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.
