President Bush vowed on Sunday the United States would lead a coalition to disarm Iraq if the U.N. Security Council fails to act against Saddam Hussein, as negotiations for a tough new U.N. resolution enter a decisive week.
The United States is increasingly sounding ready to break off negotiations and put together its own coalition to force Baghdad to give up suspected weapons of mass destruction.
"If the United Nations won't act, if Saddam Hussein will not act, if he continues to defy the world, the United States in the name of peace will lead a coalition to disarm Saddam Hussein," Bush said. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters on Sunday that the U.N. negotiators are facing a key week.
"We will see what happens in New York. This is the United Nations' chance to do some good or this is the United Nations' chance to fail," Fleischer said.
For its part, France threatened to submit counter-proposals and warned that a war against Saddam Hussein would lead to more terrorism. "More attacks would be feared," if a new conflict over Iraq breaks out, said French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie.
"Apart from organised networks, individual acts (of terrorism) would be feared," and they would be "more difficult to predict and to fight against," she said at the end of a visit to the Saudi kingdom.
Her comments came as Iraq called on the UN Security Council to block the tough new disarmament resolution that the United States wants to push through this week. "The Security Council, notably the permament member states, must stop attempts by the US administration to pass this new resolution," senior Iraqi MP Salem al-Qubaissi told AFP.
"It's a declaration of war against Iraq," said Qubaissi, head of the parliament's committee for Arab and international affairs. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
