US: After weeks of negotiations between US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell and officials from other UN Security Council member countries, the fate of the much amended US resolution on Iraq lay last night in the hands of US President George Bush. At a one-hour White House meeting, Mr Powell discussed revisions with US Vice President Mr Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defence Mr Donald Rumsfeld and National Security adviser Ms Condoleezza Rice.
The meeting was inconclusive, according to diplomatic sources, signalling differences at the highest level in the administration over how to address the concerns of France and other UN members that the resolution would be a trigger for war. Mr Bush has been campaigning almost non-stop in mid-term elections, leaving the complicated diplomatic negotiations to Mr Powell.
Yesterday he voted in Texas before returning to the White House where he is expected to make the final judgement on new language Mr Powell has offered to the French. Mr Powell continued his telephone diplomacy yesterday, speaking to French Foreign Minister Mr Dominique de Villepin. A senior US official said yesterday that the votes of Russia and France remained uncertain. At issue is the US insistence that if there is a material breach of the tough new inspections regime, the US would be able to impose "serious consequences" on Iraq, without going back to the Security Council for a second resolution. The language of the text may fudge the issue of who decides when Iraq is in material breach and make war appear less than inevitable. Chief UN Weapons Inspector, Dr Hans Blix is insisting that he will not report any material breach unless it meets the standard set down by Article 60 of a 1967 convention on the law on treaties. This states that the violation must be serious enough to thwart the object or purpose of a treaty, or resolution. In other words a trivial obstruction put in the way of inspectors would not become a trigger for war. Mexican Foreign Secretary Mr Jorge Castaneda, who has strongly supported the French, said he believed the revised draft will be approved by 14 of the 15 council members, with Syria abstaining. The revised draft offers a "final opportunity for diplomacy" and eliminates references to "an automatic trigger," he said. It offers an end to sanctions if Iraq complies, Mr Castaneda said. "It also says that there would be severe consequences if it does not comply."
A US-led attack on Iraq would further destabilise the Middle East and aggravate seething Arab anger over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the head of the Arab League has said. Mr Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the 22-member organisation, said in an interview an attack on Iraq "would open all negative possibilities", including more terrorism.