- US Secretary of State Colin Powell said that the UN debate
on Iraq is entering a "very key week" in which it must narrow
key differences or agreement on disarming Baghdad "may evade us."
-
- Asked whether failure to get such a compromise would
make it hard to assemble a coalition behind US action against Iraq, White
House spokesman Ari Fleischer replied: "Not very hard at all."
-
- That matter-of-fact reply suggested that the United States
is resigning itself to acting alone to strip Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
of chemical and biological weapons. Baghdad denies having such arms.
-
- "It is time to bring the remaining issues to a head
for resolution, if possible. And if resolution is not possible, then let's
come to that realization and move forward," he told reporters.
-
- Earlier, US President George W. Bush reiterated his warning
that he is ready to order US military action to strip Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein of chemical and biological arms with or without the world body's
approval.
-
- "If the UN won't act, if Saddam Hussein won't disarm,
we will lead a coalition to disarm him," Bush vowed at his first meeting
of the day, a face-to-face encounter with Mexican President Vicente Fox.
-
- Russia and France oppose a US-authored draft resolution
because they say it provides an automatic trigger for attack in case of
non-compliance; China has not backed the measure; Mexico has been cool
to the initiative.
-
- Powell said he had discussed the issue with the foreign
ministers of France, Russia, and China and with the foreign secretary of
Britain, the United States' closest ally on Iraq.
-
- "We have reached the point where we have to make
a few fundamental decisions in the early part of next week and go forward.
We can't continue to have a debate that never ends," he said.
-
- Powell said all parties to the debate agreed Iraq has
violated UN resolutions and must be held to account but differed on how
to characterize future violations and the response to such breaches.
-
- "The threat of force and the threat of consequences
as a result of continued violation and misbehavior must be there or we
know that Iraq will not respond," he insisted.
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