United States circulates new working draft of Iraq resolution

UNITED NATIONS -- Stepping up pressure to get quick U.N. action, the United States distributed a new draft resolution on Iraq to the entire Security Council for the first time Wednesday but Russia immediately rejected it and said France and China were also opposed.

It drops some demands but would give U.N. inspectors immediate and unconditional access to all sites in Iraq and warn Baghdad of "serious consequences" if it fails to cooperate.

The U.S. decision to widen the debate from closed-door talks with four other permanent members to the entire council came as White House spokesman Ari Fleischer made clear the United States wants to wrap up negotiations. Talks have reached their "final moments," he said, and a vote could go either way.

U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said the council would discuss the text again Friday and then hear from U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix on Monday.

Diplomats said Blix's assessment of whether inspectors can operate under the provisions in the U.S. draft will be critical for some members weighing their support for the plan.

A senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Wednesday's meeting was part of a new U.S. strategy to pressure France, China and Russia by actively taking the U.S. case to a wider audience.

For a resolution to pass, it needs nine "yes" votes in the Security Council and no veto by any permanent member -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.

The 10 elected council members got their first look at the new U.S. draft during Wednesday's closed meeting where each got to make comments.

Ambassadors from several elected states, including Mauritius, Colombia, Bulgaria and Singapore were optimistic after the meeting but said they needed time to study the draft before coming out with official positions. Syria reiterated its opposition to any new resolution.

No Russian support

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Sergey Lavrov quickly rejected the text, saying it contained an unacceptable authorization of force if Iraq fails to comply with its terms and that it provides U.N. weapons inspectors with requirements they can't fulfill -- just as the initial U.S. text did earlier this month.

"Unfortunately, so far we have not seen changes in the text which would take into account these concerns, and they are shared by France and China," Lavrov said, stepping to the microphone while a senior U.S official was briefing a mob of journalists a few feet away.

Lavrov said Russia hadn't ruled out a veto at this stage. French diplomats said, however, that it was unlikely France would use its veto to block the resolution.

The United States and Britain have been at odds with France, Russia and China over how tough a new resolution should be.

Washington, backed by London, is pushing a single resolution that would allow force to be used against Iraq if it doesn't meet its U.N. disarmament obligations.

"The text ... is very clearly intended to be a last chance offer to Iraq," said Britain's U.N. Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock. "It's a genuine offer. Take the inspection process seriously. It's going to be a tough one, but it's going to be a fair one under U.N. rules, and if you get it wrong, that's a disaster for you."

A senior U.S. official stressed that the resolution "is not an attempt by the United States to seek an excuse to go to war."

"It's an attempt by us and the British to send a clear message to Iraq and to get a good inspection regime under way and operating," the U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

But Paris, Moscow and Beijing still want a two-stage approach giving Iraq another chance to comply with weapons inspectors and only authorizing force in a second resolution if Baghdad obstructed inspections.

President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice said the United States was talking to France and others "to see if we can find a way to bridge any remaining differences."

"But a resolution has to be tough enough and has to be clear enough that you might have a chance to get the job done," she said.

Iraq's Culture Minister Hamed Yousef Hamadi on Wednesday called the U.S. draft a "declaration of war."

The new text, a product of nearly six weeks of difficult negotiations, includes two references to Iraq being in "material breach" for violating U.N. resolutions, a phrase some legal experts say could open the door for military action.

It also recalls Security Council warnings that Iraq would face "serious consequences," as a result of its continued violations of its obligations.

The draft directs U.N. inspectors to report to the council "any interference by Iraq with inspection activities, as well as any failure by Iraq to comply with its disarmament obligations." The council would convene immediately "to consider the situation and the need for full compliance with all of the relevant Security Council resolutions in order to restore international peace and security."

The text calls on Iraq to allow U.N. inspectors "immediate, unimpeded, unconditional and unrestricted access to presidential sites equal to that at other sites." Under current arrangements, surprise inspections are barred at presidential sites.

The new proposal also gives inspectors the right to declare no-fly and no-drive zones around inspection sites but drops a demand for armed security guards to help enforce the zones. The U.S. draft also drops earlier proposals that the five permanent members be allowed to join inspection teams and receive information gleaned from their work.

But it would still allow inspectors to remove Iraqi scientists and their families from the country in order to conduct interviews, without the presence of Iraqi government minders.

The latest American plan would also speed up the arrival of inspectors.

Iraq would have seven days to accept the resolution once its adopted and must declare its programs to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and ballistic missiles within 30 days.

Inspectors would have up to 45 days from adoption of the resolution to resume work. Earlier drafts had them beginning work 45 days after the council received Iraq's declaration.

The issue of a new resolution has been at the United Nations since President Bush addressed the General Assembly on Sept. 12 and warned that if the Security Council didn't act decisively to disarm Saddam Hussein, the United States would take action on its own.

Wednesday's meeting follows comments from senior U.S. military officials that failure to secure quick agreement in the council -- coupled with the possibility that Iraq could initially cooperate with weapons inspections -- could delay military action beyond winter and spring. Those are considered the most suitable times for conducting war in Iraq.

Inspectors must certify that Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs have been destroyed before sanctions imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait can be lifted.