February 23, 2003

Allies rally behind Bush on Iraq

The United States and three of its staunchest allies are preparing to launch a diplomatic drive to secure the UN Security Council votes needed to pass a new resolution against Iraq.
President George Bush confirmed that a draft resolution would be presented to the Security Council this week following talks at his Texas ranch with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

The document, which could be circulated as early as Monday, is expected to declare Baghdad to be in material breach of the first resolution passed in November - and to make explicit reference to military action.

Before their news conference, Mr Bush and Mr Aznar had held a four-way telephone conversation with the UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi, both of whom support America's hawkish stance.

For the resolution to be approved, the four men need to persuade nine of the 15 Security Council members that action against Iraq is justified.

Permanent members France, Russia and China all oppose the US hardline, but it remains unclear whether they will go so far as to wield their veto.

Speaking next to Mr Aznar, Mr Bush reiterated his warning that the UN risked becoming an irrelevance if it refused to back him.

He also said he was not willing to wait two months for the council to approve a new text - the time it took to approve the first resolution, 1441.

While the Bush administration has made clear it would welcome a second resolution, it has nevertheless stressed that it will lead a "coalition of the willing" into war if it fails to win a UN mandate.
[...]
The allies will be closely monitoring Iraq's compliance with Mr Blix's latest demands. He has given Baghdad until 1 March to start destroying its al-Samoud II missiles.
[...]
On Saturday, the man in charge of nuclear inspections, Mohamed ElBaradei, said Iraq was still not doing enough to convince the world it had no banned weapons.

In other developments:

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad warns a US-led attack on Iraq would be seen in the Islamic world as part of a war against Muslims.

[Well, in a lot of ways it is, at least on some Muslims, anyway.
Thanks for paying attention!]

US officials say warplanes patrolling the air exclusion zone in southern Iraq have bombed six military communications sites after Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery opened fire.

[Opening fire on our planes? Another material breach. How many is that? 9,753, 335?]

Washington says a tentative agreement has been struck with Turkey to allow the deployment of US troops on Turkish soil. A vote in Turkey's parliament is not expected before Tuesday.

I'll give you even odds that they'll go for the $...who knows?

Pope John Paul II urges Tony Blair to find a solution other than war to the crisis with Iraq, during a private audience at the Vatican.

And Tone wisely and humbly told His Holiness that only Saddam Hussein can prevent the war by his actions to disarm voluntarily and peacefully, even though rumor has it that Tony wants to become a Catholic after leaving office.

Former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov flies to Iraq on a "confidential mission" on behalf of President Vladimir Putin, reports Ekho Moskvy radio.

Uh-oh. I wouldn't trust these two alone. Something nasty is up.

Frankly, I don't care anymore, if I ever did, if we get a "second UN resolution" or not.
I've had more than enough of the U-freaking-N to last me several lifetimes.
I really don't know why President Bush has chosen to go this route.
I think that the more he and we deal with the UN the more legitimacy we give it, not less.
I believe, also, that Bush is a bit of an idealist and a "dreamer" such that he truly wants to see the UN become "relevant" so that it remains as a real force for global peace in the future, but I'm afraid that it's degenerated into a country club and mutual admiration society for thugs.
I do hope that someday that Bush or Powell will explain to all of us exactly why we went to the UN in the first place, but I wish we'd gone to war the "American way:" just hauled off and attacked them! (the way even Bill Crinton did, believe it or not!).
It is good to put together this coalition of the willing and I think it's promoting more force for Good on the planet to unite nations in a common effort to achieve a right and good outcome.
But it's not nice to find out who opposes us--like our old NATO allies France, Germany, Austria and Belgium.
However, when you take sides and make a righteous stand, you will make "enemies" awfully fast, as we have.
The UN is evil, become it stoops to the depths of its worst members like Syria, Iraq, Libya and Zimbabwe and too often sanctions tyranny and murder, while ignoring principled nation-states like the US and Israel.
So I repeat:Get the US out of the UN and vice versa!
I pray actively now that President Bush will NOT get his resolution and that the UN will prove itself to be as irrelevant, powerless, venal and corrupt as it really is and then the less said about it the better.
Now that we've chosen this route, we have to see it through to the bitter end in the UNSC,I guess, but once it has been voted on and become a moot point, let's "move on," as they say.
The US and her "friends and allies" is going to do what it needs to do, which is to drain the (Islamofascist) swamp in Baghdad.
Let's roll already and to hell with the UN which is where it was going anyway... and in a Neiman Marcus handbasket.

[I hope that Spanish PM Aznar and his lovely wife had a nice time at the Crawford Ranch with President and Mrs. Bush. It's nice to seem them have a visitor who isn't Saudi and wearing a male burqa, isn't it?!]