Three permanent Security Council members express doubts
Security Council not unified on Iraq
Three permanent Security Council members express doubts
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) --With U.S. officials warning Iraq to obey U.N. disarmament demands or face war, China said Thursday its position on a potential war with Iraq was "extremely close" to that of France, which has said all possible actions must be taken to avoid a conflict.
As permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, China and France have veto power over any resolution -- including a possible new resolution authorizing military force against Iraq.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhang Qiyue said Beijing was "worried and uneasy about the large-scale military buildup" in the Persian Gulf region.
"I think our position is extremely close to that of France," she said. (Full story)
French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Wednesday they were not convinced a war with Iraq was necessary while U.N. arms inspectors were still searching Iraq for weapons of mass destruction.
"Any decision belongs to the Security Council and the Security Council alone, which will address the issue after having examined the latest inspectors' report," Chirac said. "Secondly, as far as we're concerned, war always means failure." (Full story)
Russia, another permanent council member, said Tuesday it would not back a unilateral military operation against Iraq and said weapons inspectors must continue their work, according to the Interfax news agency. (Full story)
The Security Council's other two permanent members -- the United States and Britain -- have urged the United Nations to stand firm against Iraq.
Rice: Iraq is failing
U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice asserted Thursday that Iraq "is still treating inspections as a game" and "it should know that time is running out."
In an op-ed piece in The New York Times, Rice said Iraq is "failing in spectacular fashion. By both its actions and its inactions, Iraq is proving not that it is a nation bent on disarmament, but that it is a nation with something to hide."
Rice said there are many questions about Iraq's weapons programs and "it is Iraq's obligation to provide answers." She said Iraq's weapons declaration "amounts to a 12,200-page lie" and "resorts to unabashed plagiarism." (Full story)
Chief U.N. weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei are expected to present a progress report to the Security Council on Monday.
U.N. officials have stressed that the report will be an update, not a conclusive determination about any Iraqi weapons programs. Still, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has told Security Council members that "difficult choices" will follow the report.
On Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dismissed the comments from France and Germany, saying most European countries stand with the United States in its campaign to force Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to disarm.
"Germany has been a problem, and France has been a problem," said Rumsfeld, a former NATO ambassador. "But you look at vast numbers of other countries in Europe. They're not with France and Germany on this; they're with the United States."
Germany and France represent "old Europe," Rumsfeld said, and NATO's expansion in recent years means "the center of gravity is shifting to the east."
Germany has a nonveto seat on the Security Council, but it is a key NATO ally and will hold the council's rotating presidency in February.
French officials reacted angrily Thursday to Rumsfeld's comments. An influential former labor minister says the statements show "a certain arrogance of the United States," and France's ecology minister used a regional expression for a four-letter word in reference to Rumsfeld, The Associated Press reported.
Other developments
? A group of six countries -- including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran -- planned to issue a declaration Thursday demanding that Iraq comply with the inspections in exchange for their help in avoiding a military conflict with the United States. (Full story)
? A U.N. spokesman Thursday denied suggestions that inspectors searched a mosque in Baghdad as part of their ongoing hunt for weapons of mass destruction. Spokesman Hiro Ueki said the U.N. inspectors were invited inside the mosque after passing by, but he did not say who asked the inspectors to come inside. The imam of the mosque complained Wednesday that the inspectors were intrusive and provocative when they searched the mosque Monday. (Full story)
? Inspectors visited several sites Thursday, including Baghdad's Al Mustansiriya University, a warehouse north of the Iraqi capital and the Qa Qaa complex south of Baghdad. Inspectors have visited Qa Qaa more than a dozen times, including several consecutive days since last week. Previously, Iraq's nuclear program used the Qa Qaa site for the production of high explosive lenses, detonators and propellants for nuclear weapons.
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Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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