Time running short on Iraq, U.S. says

UNITED NATIONS -- Stepping up pressure for quick U.N. action, the United States distributed its tough 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.

The U.S. decision to move a lengthy debate among the five veto-wielding members to the full 15-member council came as White House spokesman Ari Fleischer made clear the United States wants to wrap up negotiations.

The Associated Press reported that Wednesday's full council meeting was part of a new U.S. strategy to persuade the reluctant permanent members 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 a permanent member -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.

The 10 elected council members got their first look Wednesday afternoon at the new U.S. draft at a closed council meetings where diplomats said each got to make a statement.

"The end is either an agreement or a failure to reach agreement," Fleischer said. "It could be either one right now."

He added: "They have some amount of time left, but not a lot."

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.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Sergey Lavrov quickly rejected the text, saying that 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.

Despite his criticism, Lavrov would not say whether he would veto 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.

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

In Amman, Jordan, Iraq's Culture Minister Hamed Yousef Hamadi called the U.S. draft a "declaration of war."

The United States circulated an initial draft to the five permanent members in late September. 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 that 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.

On inspections, 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."

It would also give 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 proposals that the five permanent members be allowed to join inspection teams and receive information gleaned from inspections.

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.

It demands that Iraq accept the resolution within seven days of its adoption and 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, not 45 days from receipt of Iraq's weapons declaration, which the previous text called for.

The issue 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.

Bush spoke by telephone Wednesday with Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. The United States would need his permission to use Turkey's Incirlik Air Base in any assault on Iraq. "They discussed cooperation on Iraq," Fleischer said.

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