- UNITED NATIONS (Reuters)
- Iraq's ambassador to the United Nationssaid on Friday the Security Council
resolution demanding that Iraq disarm was written in such a way as to include
demands that will be hard for Iraq to meet.
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- Ambassador Mohammed Aldouri also said the resolution,
passed 15-0 on Friday, imposed U.S. wishes on the global community. "This
is the will of the United States on the rest of the world," he said.
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- "I am very pessimistic. This resolution is crafted
in such a way to prevent inspectors to return to Iraq," he told Reuters
in an interview.
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- The resolution set out a timetable for a resumption of
work by U.N. weapons after a four-year interruption and said Iraq would
face "serious consequences" if it did not comply.
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- The resolution, drafted by the United States and co-sponsored
by Britain, gave Baghdad a week to accept the terms and promise to comply.
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- Aldouri did not say whether Baghdad would accept the
resolution. "We will wait and see what the reaction is from Baghdad,"
Aldouri said.
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- "If they have the firm conviction that the United
States will attack Iraq anyway, certainly, they would have the position
which corresponds to that conviction," he said, without elaborating.
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- BUSH PLEASED
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- President Bush welcomed the vote, which followed two
months of arduous negotiations with nations, especially France and Russia,
who feared the resolution could automatically trigger war.
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- Even Iraq's Arab neighbor Syria, which had signaled it
would not vote in favor, joined the other U.N. Security Council members
for the unanimous vote.
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- The new measure still leaves Washington free to attack
Iraq without a formal second U.N. resolution authorizing the use of force.
But it requires the Security Council to assess any serious violation before
a military strike.
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- "Others did their best, they did what they could
-- France, Russia, Syria and China -- and in the end they had to look after
their own national interest," Aldouri said.
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- The resolution directs Iraq to accept the terms in seven
days, and within 30 days make an "accurate full and complete"
declaration of its nuclear, chemical, biological and ballistic weapons
as well as related materials used in civilian industries. Iraq denies it
has any such weapons.
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- The resolution gives U.N. arms inspectors, who have been
out of Iraq for four years, "immediate, unimpeded and unconditional"
rights to search anywhere, including Iraqi President Sadda m Hussein s
presidential palaces.
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- "If we are to avert war, all nations must continue
to pressure Saddam Hussein to accept this resolution and to comply with
his obligations," Bush said.
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- Aldouri said if Iraq rejected the resolution then it
was also likely to pull out of its U.N-supervised oil-for-food program,
under which Baghdad is allowed to sell oil with the revenues used to buy
humanitarian supplies.
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- "Certainly, there will be consequences. If the war
is there, then the program will be stopped," he said.
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- The current six-month phase of the program expires on
November 25, at which time the Security Council would vote on another six
months period.
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