Hans Blix gave a “near enough” clean bill of health to Iraq to come out of quarantine, not in days or years but in months.
The USA and Great Britain want it to come out of quarantine free of weapons of mass destruction by March 17, 2003.
So Iraq has 10 days to become fit as a fiddle. Otherwise, in the judgment of the British Foreign Minister, Jack Straw, it will be violating United Nations resolutions.
Conveniently for them, this is another failure on the part of Iraq and provides justification for the war by over three hundred thousand troops against the undernourished and ill-armed people of Iraq.
The French, who do not share the rush to war and are confident on the Blix route to peace are walking a tightrope.
According to Barry James in the International Herald Tribune, “President Jacques Chirac, if he declares that he will not use the veto power, France will lose much of its negotiating clout in the Security Council. If he announces that he will veto military action against Iraq, the United States and Britain will have no further interest in seeking UN endorsement for their actions.” The veto by France or Russia should not damage the United Nations. It has previously survived 251 public vetoes plus 43 closed session vetoes by permanent members.
The United States has invoked its veto power 76 times, “usually to ward off actions against Israel.”
France and Britain jointly used their veto powers in 1956 to block a United States Resolution calling for the withdrawal by Israel from Egyptian territory. France and Britain blocked resolutions for a cease-fire opposing the United States and the Soviet Union. Furious, President Eisenhower took the matter to the UN General Assembly where the veto did not apply.
The assembly then passed a resolution demanding the withdrawal of all parties and for the first time, established a UN peace-keeping force. “War is regrettable because of the harm it brings. It must be avoided in view of numerous alternatives.
All of them are less damaging to Iraq. However, the United States administration has to be focused on its objections and refrain from changing the postmark, otherwise much of its complaints can be seen with the same eyes as the world sees Saddam.
Furthermore, President Bush may be well advised to benefit from the wisdom of his father who has walked the road before.
Bush, a doting dad, would never disagree with his son in public, but in a speech at Tufts University last week, he defended his decision to leave Saddam Hussein in power after Desert Storm.
The reason given was “if we had tried to go in there and created more instability in Iraq, I think it would have been very bad for the neighborhood.”
The clock is ticking too fast. The Security Council is deadlocked. The Emirate initiative is frozen. The Arab League is dormant. The Islamic conference cannot move.
The world has no option but to listen to the father and forget about the son.
France, Germany and Russia should take the issue to the General Assembly. This way the whole world will have a say on the challenge of the age. They may very well decide and decree to use UN peacekeeping force. The sooner this happens the better.
Arab News Features<> 10 March 2003