/ 1 January 2002

US plans to give Saddam seven days to reveal all

The draft of a tough US resolution calls on Iraq to reveal all materials relating to weapons of mass destruction and to give UN weapons inspectors unfettered access to presidential sites, according to American officials and Security Council diplomats.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would have seven days to agree to the UN resolution calling on him to disarm and then he would need to quickly present the council with a list of banned materials in Iraq’s possession.

If he fails to comply, the resolution would threaten the use of ”all necessary means” against him, said officials on condition of anonymity.

The language in the draft is borrowed from a previous Security Council resolution and appeared aimed at winning the support of France, Russia and China.

The three, who are permanent members of the Security Council and hold veto power, have said they didn’t want a resolution that would threaten force before inspectors returned to Baghdad.

The draft resolution, to be jointly proposed by the United States and Britain – the other permanent members of the Security Council – has not been made public. But details were disclosed Friday, three days before the chief UN weapons inspector was to discuss preparations for his staff’s return with Iraqi experts in Vienna.

According to officials, the draft resolution gives the inspectors the right to designate ”no-fly” and ”no-drive” zones in Iraq. Currently, ”no-fly” zones in the north and south of the country are patrolled by US and British warplanes.

The resolution also would nullify assurances UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan gave Saddam in 1998 that restrict inspections of presidential sites, including Saddam’s palaces. According to the deal between Annan and Iraq, inspectors were not allowed to spring surprise inspections on any of the eight so-called presidential sites, which encompass a total of about 12 square miles and include several palaces.

The resolution also envisions an end to the Iraqi practice of assigning government guides to accompany inspectors as they moved through the streets of Baghdad and elsewhere around the country.

It also would detail Iraq’s violations and specify what Baghdad must do to correct them, especially

”full, final and complete destruction” of weapons of mass destruction.

In the meantime, Britain and the United States continued to lobby for support from France, Russia and China.

Bush called French President Jacques Chirac to try to win his backing for the US-British proposal. But Chirac resisted, telling Bush he opposed threatening Iraq with military force upfront.

Chirac, instead, urged Bush to back a French approach for two resolutions – a first one calling for full compliance and cooperation with inspectors, and a second one authorising force should Iraq fail to comply.

Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman, who shared the US draft with French officials in Paris on Friday, was bound for Moscow for more meetings Saturday. Grossman was accompanied by British diplomat Peter Ricketts, and London sent a second envoy to Beijing for talks with senior Chinese officials.

Describing the draft resolution as tough and detailed, a US official in Washington said Iraq would be accused of being in ”material breach” of UN Security Council resolutions and told it must agree to ”full, final and complete destruction” of its weapons of mass destruction.

While Secretary of State Colin Powell and other US diplomats strive to gain approval for the resolution, the Bush administration is struggling to persuade Congress to authorize the use of force against Iraq.

Bush said he was willing to wait and see if the United Nations could force Saddam to disarm before the United States acts on its own.

”I’m willing to give peace a chance to work. I want the United Nations to work,” Bush said at a Republican fund-raising event in Denver.

But Bush said action must come quickly.

”Now is the time,” he said.

”For the sake of your children’s future we must make sure this madman never has the capacity to hurt us with a nuclear weapon, or to use the stockpiles of anthrax that we know he has, or VX, the biological weapons which he possesses.” – Sapa-AP