05 March 2003
White House Still Confident of Security Council Vote on Iraq
(Fleischer urges reporters not to leap to conclusions) (760) By Wendy S. Ross Washington File U.N. Correspondent Washington -- The White House said March 5 said it still believes that the U.S.-U.K.-Spanish resolution on Iraq currently before the United Nations Security Council will not be vetoed when it comes up for a vote following the March 7 report to the council by chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix. Once the Blix report is presented, "we will make a determination about the timing" of a vote, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said. "But it's all systems go." The aim of the United States "is to get as many votes as we can" for the resolution, he said. "The goal is to get nine votes or more and not have a veto." President Bush, Fleischer reminded reporters, was the one who "made the call to bring the United Nations front and center in this matter," and the president continues to express "his confidence in the ultimate outcome of it." Fleischer urged reporters "not to leap to any conclusions about what the final outcome of the vote will be." Earlier in the day the foreign ministers of France, Russia and Germany told reporters at a joint news conference in Paris that they would "not allow" passage of a U.N. resolution that authorizes war against Iraq. "There's a lot of diplomacy going on involving many different people in many different countries. And you have not heard the final word from any nation," Fleischer said. President Bush, he added, "knowing what he knows and knowing the conversations that he's had with the presidents of nations ... has a sense of confidence about the ultimate outcome of this." "There's a history of France and Russia not seeing this eye-to-eye with the United States. You are seeing that continue to varying degrees," Fleischer said. "I urge you not to leap to the conclusion that this is determinative matter that a veto will follow. This is part and parcel of diplomacy," he said, noting that both France and Russia, two of the five permanent members of the Security Council with veto power, "abstained on the creation of the inspectors themselves." And he pointed out that in November 2002, when everybody thought that some Security Council member would veto Resolution 1441, it was approved unanimously by the council. And, "in 1990, interestingly enough, when the United Nations considered the resolution after the invasion of Kuwait; there were similar warnings of potential veto threats, all of which did not materialize," Fleischer noted. Asked if the United States would consider changing the language of its current resolution, Fleischer said that although it is hard to imagine an objection to the language, "we have never suggested that the language is written in stone. We of course consult." The resolution, he stated, simply "enforces Resolution 1441, which says, there will be serious consequences if Iraq fails to disarm." Resolution 1441, he said, "called on Iraq to fully and immediately comply. It did not say partially comply, and it did not say slowly comply. It said fully and immediately -- without conditions, without restrictions." President Bush "hopes that the United Nations will not have passed a resolution that said 'full and immediate' only to indicate it didn't mean either 'full' or 'immediate.' He hopes the United Nations did not pass a resolution that said 'without conditions or restrictions' only to find out what they really meant was full of conditions and full of restrictions. He hopes they didn't pass a resolution that said 'final opportunity' only to be a resolution that said one of many opportunities. He hopes the United Nations understood the seriousness with which they passed 1441," Fleischer said. Fleischer said Bush is determined "to end this in a way that is respectful of our allies. No matter what position they take, we will continue to have important relations with them beyond any decisions that are made." In other White House news, President Bush held a private meeting in the Oval Office March 5 with papal envoy Cardinal Pio Laghi, who, according to news reports, was bearing an anti-war message from the pope. Bush began his day with a meeting with his national security team, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and General Tommy Franks, Commander in Chief, United States Central Command. Bush also held a meeting with leaders of the U.S. Congress. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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