Iraq: Bickering Over Wording of Resolution as UN Team Declares It Is Ready to Go

As the UN inspection team declares it is ready to fly to Baghdad to begin its work, the USA and UK are hard at work behind the scenes to push through a new UN Security Council Resolution which, if it is carefully worded, will be impossible for Iraq to accept, thereby giving them the go-ahead to launch the military campaign they have been craving for.

Hans Blix, the UNMOVIC team leader, stated that “We are ready to leave at the first practical opportunity, after having had talks with the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammed El Baradei.

However, the United States and the United Kingdom oppose any return to Iraq unless a new resolution is passed by the Security Council, declaring that military action will be taken at the first failure to respect the terms of the agreement by Iraq.

Russia, France and China are not in principle against a more practical wording of a new Resolution but oppose the use of any expression threatening the use of force. The purpose of the United Nations and its Security Council is to avoid conflict through non-aggressive actions and dialogue. The use of any words threatening use of force is not only unnecessary but goes against the grain of good diplomacy, entering instead the primary realm of bullying and muscle-flexing.

To concede to Washington’s wishes would be paramount to a capitulation, an admission that the world is a back yard for the USA unfortunately not to play in, but rather to play with.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru

Related links: