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American Morning
Washington May Not be Able to Count on Russia in Security Council Vote
Aired February 28, 2003 - 05:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go on to this story now. One nation Washington may not be able to count on in that Security Council vote is Russia. We're talking about the veto power and the second U.N. resolution. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov says Moscow is prepared to use its veto on the Council against a second resolution. Ivanov says the veto would be used for, and I'm quoting here, "maintaining world stability."
So what's the reaction at the White House to all of this? Coming up in the next hour we'll wake up our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux and we'll ask her about that and more.
And you can keep track of the Iraq quandary on our Web site, the key individuals, the military buildup, the oil, it's all there. Just click onto cnn.com. The AOL keyword is CNN.
OK, now we want to get more details on Baghdad's plans for those missiles and how this is playing at the United Nations.
Our senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth brings us that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iraq says it accepts the U.N.'s demand to destroy the banned missiles that fly too far in violation of Security Council law. Baghdad faced a Saturday deadline to begin dismantling the al-Samoud 2 missiles. However, in dealing with the U.N., yes can mean maybe. While accepting in principal the U.N. edict, in the same letter, Baghdad calls the request unfair and says it does not know how to destroy the missiles.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: This is exactly what's been going on for years. They refuse to cooperate, don't cooperate, drag it out, wait will someone finally nails them with one little piece of the whole puzzle.
ROTH: Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix ordered the missile destruction. The outcome will be added to his latest report on Iraq's cooperation. But even if Iraq gets rid of missiles, in a draft version of the report obtained by CNN, Blix says over the last three months the results in terms of disarmament have been very limited to far. Blix also says it is hard to understand why a number of the measures which are now being taken could not have been initiated earlier.
The Security Council receives the report Friday and it will add even more fuel to a now hotly divided international panel. After what was described as an intense closed door meeting, the Council was openly split over a new resolution proposed by the U.S., U.K. and Spain, a virtual authorization for war.
Breaking with diplomatic protocol, one of the uncommitted countries on the Council, Chile, pointed fingers at both the U.S. camp and the European-Russian side.
JUAN GABRIEL VALDES, CHILEAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: This divided Council is, in fact, throwing the decision on the shoulders of the elected members while the permanent members stick to their positions without making efforts to approximate their views.
ROTH: It was the first meeting for the Council as a whole on the resolution. Several diplomats said no nations budged in an effort to close gaps.
JEREMY GREENSTOCK, BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: There is no future in the inspectors unless they have the cooperation of Iraq.
JEAN-MARC DE LA SABLIERE, FRENCH AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: That in the Council the majority of the members think that the time has not come to decide to go to war.
ROTH (on camera): The British ambassador dismissed the rebellion by non-committed members on the Security Council. He said there were conversations taking place around the world between governments which many of the delegates here didn't realize. Meanwhile, both sides rejected a compromise offer by Canada to resolve the deadlock.
Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Council Vote>
Aired February 28, 2003 - 05:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go on to this story now. One nation Washington may not be able to count on in that Security Council vote is Russia. We're talking about the veto power and the second U.N. resolution. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov says Moscow is prepared to use its veto on the Council against a second resolution. Ivanov says the veto would be used for, and I'm quoting here, "maintaining world stability."
So what's the reaction at the White House to all of this? Coming up in the next hour we'll wake up our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux and we'll ask her about that and more.
And you can keep track of the Iraq quandary on our Web site, the key individuals, the military buildup, the oil, it's all there. Just click onto cnn.com. The AOL keyword is CNN.
OK, now we want to get more details on Baghdad's plans for those missiles and how this is playing at the United Nations.
Our senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth brings us that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iraq says it accepts the U.N.'s demand to destroy the banned missiles that fly too far in violation of Security Council law. Baghdad faced a Saturday deadline to begin dismantling the al-Samoud 2 missiles. However, in dealing with the U.N., yes can mean maybe. While accepting in principal the U.N. edict, in the same letter, Baghdad calls the request unfair and says it does not know how to destroy the missiles.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: This is exactly what's been going on for years. They refuse to cooperate, don't cooperate, drag it out, wait will someone finally nails them with one little piece of the whole puzzle.
ROTH: Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix ordered the missile destruction. The outcome will be added to his latest report on Iraq's cooperation. But even if Iraq gets rid of missiles, in a draft version of the report obtained by CNN, Blix says over the last three months the results in terms of disarmament have been very limited to far. Blix also says it is hard to understand why a number of the measures which are now being taken could not have been initiated earlier.
The Security Council receives the report Friday and it will add even more fuel to a now hotly divided international panel. After what was described as an intense closed door meeting, the Council was openly split over a new resolution proposed by the U.S., U.K. and Spain, a virtual authorization for war.
Breaking with diplomatic protocol, one of the uncommitted countries on the Council, Chile, pointed fingers at both the U.S. camp and the European-Russian side.
JUAN GABRIEL VALDES, CHILEAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: This divided Council is, in fact, throwing the decision on the shoulders of the elected members while the permanent members stick to their positions without making efforts to approximate their views.
ROTH: It was the first meeting for the Council as a whole on the resolution. Several diplomats said no nations budged in an effort to close gaps.
JEREMY GREENSTOCK, BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: There is no future in the inspectors unless they have the cooperation of Iraq.
JEAN-MARC DE LA SABLIERE, FRENCH AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: That in the Council the majority of the members think that the time has not come to decide to go to war.
ROTH (on camera): The British ambassador dismissed the rebellion by non-committed members on the Security Council. He said there were conversations taking place around the world between governments which many of the delegates here didn't realize. Meanwhile, both sides rejected a compromise offer by Canada to resolve the deadlock.
Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Council Vote>
