Stewart Stogel
Thursday, Oct. 24, 2002

The U.S. and Britain decided Wednesday to submit their proposed draft to the council's 10 non-permanent elected members.

The draft was officially circulated in a private council meeting that lasted more than three hours.

'Dragged on, Accomplished Nothing'

"It dragged on much too long, and accomplished nothing," confided one attendee. "Most of the [elected] 10 spent the time complaining about how the permanent five have been dragging this out."

Earlier this week, President Bush warned that the U.N. was running the risk of becoming little more than "a debating club."

Previously, Washington and London insisted that the council's 10 elected members would not receive a proposal until the permanent five "reached an agreement."

The so-called P-5 include the U.S., U.K., Russia, China and France. Each member holds a veto.

After a series of private P-5 meetings Tuesday did not yield any progress, Washington and London decided Wednesday to go to the entire council. This capped more than five weeks of discussions.

The White House is now seeking to "persuade" enough non-permanent members to sign onto the U.S. draft to pressure the Russians, French and Chinese to move closer to the U.S. position.

Washington needs nine "yes" votes and no vetoes for its draft to be approved. Most diplomats suspect that it has only seven "yes" votes at best.

As such, any U.S. action in the Security Council could be defeated without a veto.

A senior aide to U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte admitted that Washington was prepared to introduce its draft even without the required nine "yes" votes.

"It is about time everyone stands up and is counted," the aide said. When asked if the U.S. would move ahead even if its proposal is defeated, the reply was "yes."

Russia's U.N. ambassador, Sergey Lavrov, told reporters that Moscow was not happy. "This is not a resolution we can live with. We cannot authorize an automatic use of force."

Lavrov was referring to the U.S. clash with Russia and France.

The U.S. insists on one Council resolution that would automatically authorize force if U.N.-Iraq arms inspections are interfered with.

Russia, France and China want two resolutions: One to warn Iraq to cooperate, the second to authorize force only after a non-compliance incident has occurred and been investigated by the Security Council.

The wild card is the growing possibility that the French, Russians and Chinese will offer a counterproposal that could garner the required nine "yes" votes. That could force a U.S. veto.

Another U.S. official has described the latest turn of events as "a real mess."

The Security Council will reconvene Friday in a private meeting on Iraq.

On and on, on and on, on and on ...

When leaving the U.N. on Wednesday evening, Negroponte told reporters that the council meeting Friday "will likely go all day."

When asked if a formal vote on the U.S. draft is near, Negroponte responded: "Who knows? We'll see Friday."

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Bush Administration

Saddam Hussein/Iraq

United Nations

Editor's note:
Saddam Hussein’s race to make a nuclear bomb