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NEW YORK, Feb 9: US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Sunday that United States would go to war against Iraq “with or without” the UN approval.
He said “we would lead a coalition of the willing nations” to destroy Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.
Speaking on ABC news programme This Week, Mr Powell dismissed the French and German proposal for a stronger UN force to ferret out Iraq’s WMD, saying it was now time for the Security Council to “go into session and find whether or not serious consequences are due at this time”.
He said a second resolution giving Iraq a deadline could be put on the table by willing members of the UNSC next week.
Mr Powell said he had not been presented with the reported proposal by France and Germany to boost the number of inspectors but added that it was past time for such action. “Iraq’s leader Saddam Hussein has not complied with UN resolution 1441 passed in November that required Iraq to disarm or face “serious consequences,” he pointed out.
“More inspectors doesn’t answer the question and what France has to do and what Germany has to do ... is read 1441 again,” he said. “This lack of cooperation by Iraq and the false declaration, all the other actions that they have taken and not taken since the resolution passed ... all set the stage for the UN to go into session and find whether or not serious consequences are appropriate at this time.”
Germany said on Sunday that Berlin and Paris had a joint plan to try to avert war in Iraq by reinforcing arms inspections, an initiative cautiously greeted by Russia but criticized by US officials.
The initiative could block any UN Security Council resolution authorizing military action against Iraq and risks further deepening a cleft between Berlin and Paris and Washington, which says disunity just strengthens Baghdad.
In another sign that France and Germany were trying to hold up moves to a war, Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel said his country was working with Paris and Berlin to block NATO plans to protect Turkey in the event of a war with Iraq.
WASHINGTON: On Saturday, France and Germany said they planned to ask the Security Council to send additional inspectors to Iraq and increase international reconnaissance flights over the country. This, they said, would increase the world body’s capability to discover the weapons the US says Saddam Hussein is hiding.
Mr Powell said Saddam Hussein needed to comply with the basic requirements of UN resolution 1441 that urged him to disarm.
He said resolution 1441 acknowledged that Iraq had WMD and it was in material breech of 16 previous resolutions that asked him to reveal and surrender his weapons.
He recalled that when the Security Council was debating this issue; the United States had said it was “giving Saddam Hussein one last chance by this resolution.” “(Saddam) has had that one last chance now for three months. If he does not now come into compliance,” he should be held responsible for it, said Mr Powell.
