- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraq
will be held to a "zero tolerance" standard on arms inspections
under a new U.N. resolution, and any breach could be met with overwhelming
military force with or without Security Council approval, Bush administration
officials said on Sunday.
-
- The officials said President Bush reserves the right
to use force without Security Council approval if Iraq violates the resolution,
but Washington would initially discuss with the council the consequences
of any breach.
-
- "We have to have a zero-tolerance view of the Iraqi
regime this time," U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice
said. "The next material breach by Saddam Hussein has got to have
serious consequences. I think it's pretty clear what that may mean."
-
- Said Secretary of State Colin Powell: "... serious
consequences -- that's a nice term, but what it means is force to disarm
him."
-
- Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Rice also said
she was "very skeptical" the Iraqi president would meet all the
terms of the resolution unanimously adopted by the U.N. Security Council
on Friday.
-
- The resolution was adopted after the United States assured
fellow security council members France, Russia and China that failure by
Iraq to comply would not automatically trigger military action.
-
- Rice predicted the council would treat seriously any
material breach, and that any military action would be done in "a
quite multilateral way."
-
- "The next time Saddam Hussein demonstrably gives
false information he will be held in material breach," she added.
-
- Under the resolution passed on Friday, which demands
that Iraq disarm or face "serious consequences," Iraq has until
next Friday to declare its willingness to cooperate. There will be no negotiations,
the officials said.
-
- NO RIGHT 'TO ACCEPT OR REJECT'
-
- "They are not accepting the resolution, they're
simply acknowledging, because they don't have a right to accept or reject,"
Rice said.
-
- Iraqi state television reported on Sunday that Saddam
had ordered parliament to convene to discuss the U.N. resolution, but the
report did not say when lawmakers would meet.
-
- There has been semi-official word Iraq would consider
the resolution "calmly," Powell said on CBS's "Face the
Nation."
-
- "They should look at it calmly, they should look
at it seriously and they should comply," he said.
-
- Iraq has until Dec. 8 to make a full declaration of its
weapons of mass destruction programs. Anything less than a complete accounting
of the programs would violate the resolution, and a denial that such programs
existed would not be accepted, the U.S. officials said.
-
- "If the declaration is false, they're not complying
... the very fact of that non-compliance is a material breach," Powell
said. "We have to see cooperation right away, not wait until February."
-
- The resolution is intended as a test of Saddam's willingness
to comply, Rice said. "The best thing that Saddam Hussein can do is
to issue a declaration that is full and fair and complete. We will see
whether, in that early test of his willingness to cooperate, he passes
the test."
-
- Saddam must lead inspectors to the weapons sites, rather
than force inspectors to find them, she said. "We do not need to waste
the world's time with another game of cat and mouse."
-
- She also said inspectors would take steps to ensure that
Iraqis familiar with Saddam's weapons programs can talk freely to inspectors
without fear of retribution.
-
- Powell said Washington hoped top Iraqi military officers
would defect if force were used against Iraq. "If military action
comes, the outcome is certain. ... The regime will be defeated, and these
generals had better make a judgement as to which side of the wall they
want to be on when it's all over."
-
- Asked how she viewed the likelihood Saddam would meet
all of the U.N. demands, Rice said, "I think you have to be skeptical
... very skeptical."
-
- _____
-
-
- Comment
-
- From Charles Golden
- New Jersey
- 11-10-2
-
- What a farce! So, if the 'inspectors' or spies within
their ranks,
- 'find' one vial of West Nile Virus (which the US gave
Hussein)
- the war is on!!
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