February 26, 2003	Wednesday	Zul Hijjah 24, 1423

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PARIS/ARBIL, Feb 25: The United States fired a diplomatic warning shot across France’s bows on Tuesday in its struggle to win United Nations backing for a war against Iraq.

After France led a new initiative to put off a conflict, the US ambassador to Paris said his country would consider “very unfriendly” any French veto in the United Nations of a new US-British resolution designed to authorise military action.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair weighed in on Washington’s side, saying it was “absurd” to think UN inspectors could find banned arms without Iraq’s full cooperation. France, Russia and Germany want to give them at least four more months.

But other members of the decision-making UN Security Council expressed scepticism over the resolution, clouding Washington’s hopes it will pass by mid-March. Military analysts say the desert heat will make conflict much tougher after that.

And just as Washington’s fortunes brightened on another front, with Ankara preparing a vote to let US troops deploy for a possible invasion of Iraq from the north, a new row broke out over the role of Turkey’s troops in any conflict.

For the resolution — which declares that Iraq has squandered its “final opportunity” to disarm — to pass, nine of the 15 members of the Security Council need to vote in favour with no veto from any of the five permanent members.

Apart from the United States and Britain, these are France, Russia and China. Both Russia and China, which also support the proposal to give the inspectors more time, resisted US lobbying on Tuesday.

Currently four Security Council members say they are in favour of military action if Iraq fails to disarm soon, with six favouring more time for weapons inspections and five undecided.

In a sign that approval hangs in the balance, US President George W. Bush said he hoped for it but it was not essential.

Amid the diplomatic wrangling, ordinary people across the world have sought to prevent hostilities themselves.

Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said Iraq had reported finding documents dealing with the disposal of weapons of mass destruction and a bomb containing liquid in an area where Baghdad was known to have disposed of biological weapons.

Inspectors have been asking Iraq for evidence that it unilaterally destroyed some of the banned weapons that have not been accounted for so far. Blix said the new disclosures were “positive”.—Reuters