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American Morning

Iraq Could Soon be Facing Final Warning to Disarm Voluntarily

Aired November 07, 2002 - 08:02   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.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Iraq could soon be facing its final warning to disarm voluntarily. The U.N. Security Council meets this morning, the last day before the U.S. plans to push its new resolution to a vote.
Richard Roth standing by at the U.N. to bring us up to date -- good morning, Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

The United Nations Security Council will go at it once again, still unable to come up with a resolution on Iraq. The U.S. has introduced its revised draft resolution. And take a look now at some of the key aspects of this. Of course, Iraq under this resolution will have seven days to accept the resolution. And then they'll also have 30 days to hand over, full disclosure, all its weapons programs to United Nations weapons inspectors.

Also, any false statement or omission by Iraq under this resolution would constitute material breach of Iraq's obligations, thus opening the door for possible military attack. And the Security Council, in a compromise to get France's support, would reconvene after a report by the U.N. chief weapons inspector in the event of any non-compliance by the Iraqi government.

The Security Council, though, was unable to give the United States approval. The U.S. is going to hope to push for a vote some time on Friday. Basically, France and Russia fear so-called hidden triggers in the resolution that would give Washington a unilateral power to wage a military assault. The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., John Negroponte, tried to assure France and Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN NEGROPONTE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: President Bush has said on repeated occasions that as far as he's concerned, the use of force, war would be a last resort, that he wants to give the United Nations and the Security Council a chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: But France and Russia still say there are ambiguities in the resolution. The leaders of those two countries spoke by telephone. The U.S. really wants to have a vote Friday. Syria was talking about Monday. It's still tough going despite President Bush's wins in the congressional elections. He just can't get the votes here so far -- Paula. ZAHN: So let's come back to one of those points that you had in your graphics about the Security Council reconvening at point at which maybe Iraq is not living up to these resolutions. Is it clear, then, exactly what would happen? Would there have to be a debate before any potential military action could happen?

ROTH: There's a little gray area in that because at that point the inspectors wouldn't have gotten in and thus Hans Blix wouldn't have anything to report to the Council. It's likely the U.S. would still consult here, but would be able to attack, if it wanted to, on its own. And that still is what rankles France and Russia.

ZAHN: I know you've got a very busy couple of days ahead.

Richard Roth, thanks so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Voluntarily>


Aired November 7, 2002 - 08:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Iraq could soon be facing its final warning to disarm voluntarily. The U.N. Security Council meets this morning, the last day before the U.S. plans to push its new resolution to a vote.
Richard Roth standing by at the U.N. to bring us up to date -- good morning, Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

The United Nations Security Council will go at it once again, still unable to come up with a resolution on Iraq. The U.S. has introduced its revised draft resolution. And take a look now at some of the key aspects of this. Of course, Iraq under this resolution will have seven days to accept the resolution. And then they'll also have 30 days to hand over, full disclosure, all its weapons programs to United Nations weapons inspectors.

Also, any false statement or omission by Iraq under this resolution would constitute material breach of Iraq's obligations, thus opening the door for possible military attack. And the Security Council, in a compromise to get France's support, would reconvene after a report by the U.N. chief weapons inspector in the event of any non-compliance by the Iraqi government.

The Security Council, though, was unable to give the United States approval. The U.S. is going to hope to push for a vote some time on Friday. Basically, France and Russia fear so-called hidden triggers in the resolution that would give Washington a unilateral power to wage a military assault. The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., John Negroponte, tried to assure France and Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN NEGROPONTE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: President Bush has said on repeated occasions that as far as he's concerned, the use of force, war would be a last resort, that he wants to give the United Nations and the Security Council a chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: But France and Russia still say there are ambiguities in the resolution. The leaders of those two countries spoke by telephone. The U.S. really wants to have a vote Friday. Syria was talking about Monday. It's still tough going despite President Bush's wins in the congressional elections. He just can't get the votes here so far -- Paula. ZAHN: So let's come back to one of those points that you had in your graphics about the Security Council reconvening at point at which maybe Iraq is not living up to these resolutions. Is it clear, then, exactly what would happen? Would there have to be a debate before any potential military action could happen?

ROTH: There's a little gray area in that because at that point the inspectors wouldn't have gotten in and thus Hans Blix wouldn't have anything to report to the Council. It's likely the U.S. would still consult here, but would be able to attack, if it wanted to, on its own. And that still is what rankles France and Russia.

ZAHN: I know you've got a very busy couple of days ahead.

Richard Roth, thanks so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Voluntarily>