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WASHINGTON, March 12: The United States on Wednesday ripped into France for vowing to veto a new UN Security Council resolution on Iraq, calling it “disturbing” and implying strongly that Paris did not take the matter of Iraqi disarmament seriously.
The State Department, which has thus far held back on directly criticizing French President Jacques Chirac for his anti-war stance in an apparent attempt to salvage unity on the matter, unloaded a barrage of criticism at France, saying it was sending the “wrong signal” to Iraq.
“Unfortunately, President Chirac has said that ‘no matter what’ they’re going to veto the resolution,” spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.
“Frankly, saying that he’ll veto the resolution no matter what sends precisely the wrong signal to Baghdad, precisely the wrong signal for those who want peaceful disarmament,” he said.
Boucher also pointedly alluded to both France and to a lesser extent staunchly anti-war Germany as not being part of the majority of Security Council members who took the Iraq crisis “responsibly” and “seriously.”
And, he said, that their positions were hurting the chances for a peaceful resolution and possibly endangering the lives of US, British and Australian servicemen and women who are now deployed around Iraq to prepare for and engage in possible conflict.
“We do find the statements that France would veto no matter what disturbing because we all know that Iraq only responds, only takes steps toward disarmament under pressure,” Boucher said.
“That pressure is being maintained by the presence of American, British, Australian and other forces in the region,” he said.
“To tell Iraq that no matter what they are not going to be subject to another Security Council resolution really sends the wrong signal to Baghdad and we think makes it less likely that we can get Iraq to disarm peacefully.
“That is a policy point of view that we take issue with,” Boucher said.
A senior State Department official said later that Washington had been moved to deliver the verbal assault against the French position because of an interview Chirac gave on Monday in which he said that France would vote against a resolution no matter what the circumstances.
WARNING TO RUSSIA: America’s envoy to Russia, in blunt comments published on Wednesday, warned Moscow to think twice about the consequences of using its UN veto to block US military action against Iraq.
And in a further sign of deteriorating US-Russia relations over the Iraq crisis, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov said Washington’s bellicose stance could push a key nuclear arms pact into deep freeze.
But he also said Russia hoped to avoid using its veto, and Moscow would cooperate with Washington to try to stabilize the situation if war did break out.
Despite its new warm ties with Washington since the Sept 11 attacks in the United States, Russia has threatened to veto any new UN Security Council resolution that would open the way for a US-led war against Iraq.
“It makes a big difference whether Russia decides to use its veto or abstain,” US ambassador Alexander Vershbow told Russia’s widely read Izvestia daily. “Russia should carefully weigh all the consequences.”
Referring to “the growing possibility” of a Moscow veto after comments by Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, Vershbow said it would be very sad if growing cooperation in areas such as energy, security or space exploration were put on hold or even reversed.
Russia, which like France favours giving UN arms inspectors more time to search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, has veto rights as a permanent Security Council member.
Mr Ivanov said on Monday that Moscow would use that veto to block a draft resolution by the United States, Britain and Spain that would give Iraq until March 17 to disarm or face war.
He repeated Moscow’s policy during a foreign tour this week.
“The whole world can see that the problem around Iraq could be settled through political means in strict accordance with UN Security Council resolutions,” the foreign ministry quoted him on Wednesday as telling the Iranian press.
“This is the essence of the force of law.”—Reuters
