Washington was Thursday sticking by a March 17 deadline for Iraq to
disarm as a British proposal for six steps Iraq could take to avert
a war failed to convince Russia and France to back a new UN
Security Council resolution.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte, praised Britain's role in drawing up the tests and its "unstinting efforts to mobilise support" for the draft, but noted that the proposals were still "a non-paper".
"Our resolution is the only resolution on the table and we have not backed away from our March 17 deadline," he said.
The US might be willing to allow "a modest extension" if council members backed the proposals, Negroponte said but "it would be a very, very brief extension indeed".
Because of "numerous omissions" in its December 7 arms declaration and its "repeated violations," the United States believes Iraq "to be in further material breach" of council resolutions, he added.
"The time has come for the Security Council to enforce its resolutions," he said. "Iraq must come into compliance immediately and without delay." But he ruled out a Thursday vote since council debate was set to continue behind closed doors.
The tests Britain has devised are designed to test Iraq's "full, unconditional, immediate and active cooperation" required by the draft resolution.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov confirmed on Thursday that Moscow would veto any resolution paving the way to war, and within an hour his French counterpart Dominique de Villepin expressed his country's opposition to the British proposals.
"It is premature to say how Russia will vote as there is not yet a concrete draft resolution. If this resolution paves the path, either directly or indirectly, to a military action against Iraq, Russia will vote against it," Ivanov said in the Tajik capital Dushanbe.
De Villepin said of Britain's conditions for Baghdad: "They do not answer the questions put by the international community: it is not a question of giving Iraq a few more days before resorting to force, but to go forward resolutely along the path of peaceful disarmament laid down by the inspections which are a credible alternative to war." China also joined the discussion, with foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan saying Beijing had taken note of the British plan but still felt no new resolution was necessary.
Instead, Resolution 1441, which paved the way for weapons inspections in November, should be pursued to the end, he said.
"We have taken note of the proposal, but I would like to remind you that Resolution 1441 was unanimously approved by all members of the Security Council," Kong said.
"There's no need for a new resolution. Resolution 1441 has not been exhausted yet, and the implementation of that resolution has made some progress." Ivanov insisted that Russia remained committed to working for a peaceful resolution to the Iraq crisis.
"There is every chance for a political resolution of the Iraqi problem and Russia will do what it can to assist this," he said, rejecting US warnings that bilateral relations would be damaged if Moscow used its veto.
"Attempts to link the Russian position on Iraq with bilateral relations between Russia and the United States are not productive," he said.
"No one needs confrontation, but Russia is quite clear and open in expressing its position on Iraq as we believe that a military scenario is in no one's interests, including those of the United States." In a surprising sign of strain in the US-British alliance, Washington appeared to give only lukewarm support to London's latest efforts, which included a dramatic proposal for Saddam Hussein to make a public admission that Iraq had tried to conceal its weapons of mass destruction.
The proposals, spelt out in London by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, were designed to persuade six council members whose backing is vital in order to secure the nine votes needed for a new resolution to be adopted.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has suggested that, with a majority in favour, he could claim to have council authority of military action if even France or Russia were to cast an "irresponsible" veto.
The US military, meanwhile, has quietly doubled its forces in Saudi Arabia to some 9,000 troops over the past month, stationing them in small numbers on at least one base near the border with Iraq as well as the huge Prince Sultan Air Base near Riyadh, US defense officials said.
The total number of US forces massed against Iraq topped 250,000 this week, including 140,000 troops in Kuwait.
With the 14,000 troops in Afghanistan and surrounding central Asian countries the total number deployed rose to 270,000.
And a Kurdish official admitted for the first time Wednesday that US special forces have helped to repair runways in Iraqi Kurdistan to open a northern front in the event of an invasion - Sapa-AFP
The US ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte, praised Britain's role in drawing up the tests and its "unstinting efforts to mobilise support" for the draft, but noted that the proposals were still "a non-paper".
"Our resolution is the only resolution on the table and we have not backed away from our March 17 deadline," he said.
The US might be willing to allow "a modest extension" if council members backed the proposals, Negroponte said but "it would be a very, very brief extension indeed".
Because of "numerous omissions" in its December 7 arms declaration and its "repeated violations," the United States believes Iraq "to be in further material breach" of council resolutions, he added.
"The time has come for the Security Council to enforce its resolutions," he said. "Iraq must come into compliance immediately and without delay." But he ruled out a Thursday vote since council debate was set to continue behind closed doors.
The tests Britain has devised are designed to test Iraq's "full, unconditional, immediate and active cooperation" required by the draft resolution.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov confirmed on Thursday that Moscow would veto any resolution paving the way to war, and within an hour his French counterpart Dominique de Villepin expressed his country's opposition to the British proposals.
"It is premature to say how Russia will vote as there is not yet a concrete draft resolution. If this resolution paves the path, either directly or indirectly, to a military action against Iraq, Russia will vote against it," Ivanov said in the Tajik capital Dushanbe.
De Villepin said of Britain's conditions for Baghdad: "They do not answer the questions put by the international community: it is not a question of giving Iraq a few more days before resorting to force, but to go forward resolutely along the path of peaceful disarmament laid down by the inspections which are a credible alternative to war." China also joined the discussion, with foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan saying Beijing had taken note of the British plan but still felt no new resolution was necessary.
Instead, Resolution 1441, which paved the way for weapons inspections in November, should be pursued to the end, he said.
"We have taken note of the proposal, but I would like to remind you that Resolution 1441 was unanimously approved by all members of the Security Council," Kong said.
"There's no need for a new resolution. Resolution 1441 has not been exhausted yet, and the implementation of that resolution has made some progress." Ivanov insisted that Russia remained committed to working for a peaceful resolution to the Iraq crisis.
"There is every chance for a political resolution of the Iraqi problem and Russia will do what it can to assist this," he said, rejecting US warnings that bilateral relations would be damaged if Moscow used its veto.
"Attempts to link the Russian position on Iraq with bilateral relations between Russia and the United States are not productive," he said.
"No one needs confrontation, but Russia is quite clear and open in expressing its position on Iraq as we believe that a military scenario is in no one's interests, including those of the United States." In a surprising sign of strain in the US-British alliance, Washington appeared to give only lukewarm support to London's latest efforts, which included a dramatic proposal for Saddam Hussein to make a public admission that Iraq had tried to conceal its weapons of mass destruction.
The proposals, spelt out in London by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, were designed to persuade six council members whose backing is vital in order to secure the nine votes needed for a new resolution to be adopted.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has suggested that, with a majority in favour, he could claim to have council authority of military action if even France or Russia were to cast an "irresponsible" veto.
The US military, meanwhile, has quietly doubled its forces in Saudi Arabia to some 9,000 troops over the past month, stationing them in small numbers on at least one base near the border with Iraq as well as the huge Prince Sultan Air Base near Riyadh, US defense officials said.
The total number of US forces massed against Iraq topped 250,000 this week, including 140,000 troops in Kuwait.
With the 14,000 troops in Afghanistan and surrounding central Asian countries the total number deployed rose to 270,000.
And a Kurdish official admitted for the first time Wednesday that US special forces have helped to repair runways in Iraqi Kurdistan to open a northern front in the event of an invasion - Sapa-AFP
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