DATE=12/17/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=US - IRAQ - UN (L)
NUMBER=2-257263
BYLINE=DEBORAH TATE
DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The Clinton administration is welcoming a U-N
Security Council resolution passed Friday that could
send U-N arms inspectors back to Iraq if Baghdad
cooperates. But three of the five permanent council
members abstained from the 11-to-zero vote - a fact
that U-S officials are playing down. Correspondent
Deborah Tate reports from the White House.
Text: The decision by permanent Council members
France, China and Russia, along with Malaysia, to
abstain from the vote foiled (frustrated) U-S and
British hopes for a unified international stand on the
issue of full Iraqi compliance with U-N demands.
But at the White House, spokesman Joe Lockhart put the
best spin (interpretation) on the Security Council
action.
/// Lockhart Act ///
I think the bottom line is there was a strong
majority that sent a strong message to Saddam
Hussein, and passed a strong resolution. This
gives new powers to the U-N Security Council.
/// End Act ///
In abstaining, Russia, China and France argued that
the British-sponsored resolution did not exactly
specify how Iraq must comply before economic sanctions
are eased.
The Security Council has been seeking a way to return
U-N weapons inspectors to Iraq since they were
withdrawn a year ago, just days ahead of U-S and
British air attacks on that country after it refused
to cooperate with the inspection process.
Iraq - which denies it has any weapons of mass
destruction - has refused to allow arms experts to
return and has rejected this latest resolution.
White House spokesman Lockhart says the issue of
whether Iraq remains isolated from the international
community remains in the hands of its leader, Saddam
Hussein.
/// Lockhart Act ///
He has got a fundamental decision to make which
he has faced in the past and has tried to avoid,
and this is another statement and resolution
that puts the onus back on him to decide on
whether he is going to allow the inspectors to
come in, whether he is going to fulfill the
disarmament task that they have laid out for
him, or whether he is going to cooperate and
comply with the United Nations. If he does not
do that, he lives in a world of sanctions.
/// End Act ///
The resolution would allow economic and political
sanctions - imposed on Iraq after it invaded Kuwait in
1990 - to be suspended if Baghdad complies with U-N
weapons inspections for 120 days. The suspension
would be renewable every four months. (signed)
NEB/DAT/JP
17-Dec-1999 16:00 PM EDT (17-Dec-1999 2100 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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