The United States and Britain could give Iraq a deadline to account for its banned weapons, diplomats said, as Washington pressed Turkey to decide on whether to allow deployment of American troops in its territory.
As US and British officials pondered the language of a draft UN resolution, diplomats at the United Nations said chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix will ask Iraq to destroy its stock of al-Samoud missiles because their range exceeds limits set by the Security Council.
According to UN diplomats, quoted by AFP, the US-British draft calls on Iraq to explain why, for example, it had provided no trace of seven missiles, 50 warheads and 550 chemical-filled artillery shells which it claimed to have destroyed or lost during and after the 1990-1991 Gulf War.
Britain's UN ambassador, Jeremy Greenstock, said once a new draft text was submitted "it will lead to a different kind of debate." The debate would be "on a specific proposition and it will be on a timing that will concentrate people's minds," he said.
Greenstock said the draft would set a deadline for Iraq, "explicitly or implicitly," but added that "the text has not yet been decided upon -- there is a whole menu of options," to choose from. Greenstock said he expected discussions over a new resolution would force the hands of council members.
Opponents of the use of force -- such as France, Germany and Russia -- "see that the inspections are a route for avoiding a crunch decision," he said. "If we present them with that crunch decision, the debate changes its character," Greenstock said.
Meanwhile, top US officials warned Turkey it had little time left to decide whether to host American forces in case of war with Iraq, while saying it could attack without Ankara's support.
While Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and White House spokesman Ari Fleischer both said US forces could successfully attack Iraq without deploying forces in Turkey, Secretary of State Colin Powell called the Turkish prime minister to press the US case.
Fleischer however gave the impression that Washington was losing its patience with Ankara. "Turkey's support would be desirable but not essential in a US military operation against Iraq," he said.
Turkey "is desirable from a strategic point of view for any military staging," he added. "But the military of the United States is sufficiently flexible for whatever decision is made," and will "still be successful in carrying out any military operation."
"There's not a lot of time left," Fleischer said. "There comes a moment when plans must be made, decisions must be made, and cannot stretch on indefinitely."
A vote in the Turkish parliament is on hold until top Turkish and US officials agree on the terms of aid and cooperation in the event of a war, said Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the leader of Turkey's ruling party. Washington has offered up to 24 billion dollars in financial aid to offset the impact of a war, Erdogan told NTV news channel.
(Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
