Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE= 03/13/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=BUSH / IRAQ (L)

NUMBER=2-300643

BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS

DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE

CONTENT=

INTRO: The White House says its push to pass a new U-N resolution dealing with Iraq may continue into next week. V-O-A's Scott Stearns reports, President Bush had hoped to get a vote by Friday.

TEXT: White House spokesman Ari Fleischer says the diplomatic process underway may conclude tomorrow or it may continue into next week.

Mr. Bush is looking for nine votes in the U-N Security Council to pass a resolution vowing to enforce earlier demands of "serious consequences" against Iraq if it does not disarm.

The U-S, British, and Spanish resolution sets Monday as a deadline for Iraq to disarm, so if the vote is pushed back into next week, that deadline would have to be extended as well.

France, Russia, and China oppose the resolution because it could bring the dispute closer to war. They want weapons inspections to continue with more regular reports to the Security Council.

France is threatening to veto the new resolution and Wednesday rejected a British proposal to set conditions for Iraqi compliance.

Mr. Fleischer says it is "interesting" that French officials rejected the British plan even before Iraqi officials. He says the threat of a French veto is "not the way to disarm" Iraq and is not the way to have a "peaceful outcome" of the crisis.

Mr. Fleischer says the president is still determined to have a vote on the resolution regardless of veto threats. He says the president is "going the extra mile" for a U-N resolution, "but there's a limit to how far he will go down that road."

Mr. Bush continued to telephone world leaders Thursday ahead of a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern. At a traditional White House ceremony marking St. Patrick's Day, the prime minister said Ireland supports the new resolution forcing Iraq to give-up suspected stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons.

/// AHERN ACT ///

Our goal is the goal of the United Nations -- the disarmament of the Iraq regime by peaceful means if at all possible. And for the United Nations to be effective, for the United Nations to be respected, it must be united in purpose as well as in name. The brutal regime in Iraq poses precisely the kind of threat to international peace and security that the United Nations was created to deal with.

/// END ACT ///

President Bush thanked the Irish Prime Minister for supporting a resolution last November that called on Iraq to comply with U-N demands.

/// BUSH ACT ///

We appreciate Ireland's support for ensuring that the just demands of the world are enforced. Responsibilities of freedom are not always easy to bare, but Ireland and America are joined by a common commitment to freedom's defense against tyranny and terror.

/// END ACT ///

With more than 270-thousand U-S and British troops in the region, President Bush says he is ready to use military force to disarm Iraq regardless of what the Security Council decides. (SIGNED)

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