Iraq must fully disarm to avoid war, warns Bush

IRAQ must fully disarm to avoid war, President George W Bush said yesterday, as he urged the United Nations to “honour its word” and back US action against Saddam Hussein.

Amid diplomatic wrangling over a US-British resolution declaring that Saddam has missed his chance for peace, the president said it would be helpful to pass the measure “but I don’t believe we need a second resolution”.

Asked what it would take to avoid war, Mr Bush said: “Full disarmament . . . The man has been told to disarm. For the sake of peace, he must completely disarm.

“We expect the Security Council to honour its word by insisting that Saddam disarm. Now’s the time,” Mr Bush said.

It remains unclear whether the US can round up the nine votes of the 15-member Security Council needed to approve the resolution.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that Mr Bush was confident of obtaining the needed nine votes. But he would say only that Washington hoped France, which has argued that inspectors should be given more time, would stop short of vetoing the US-backed resolution.

But Mr Bush’s prospects of bridging the divide among the Western powers over the Iraq crisis looked even bleaker last night with the disclosure that the Baghdad regime had handed over new documents to the UN weapons inspectors.

“There are some elements which are positive which need to be explored further,” chief weapons inspector Hans Blix told reporters at the UN in New York.

But the US and Britain reacted sceptically, suggesting it was a further example of the Iraqis trying to cause delays with concessions which amounted to “little or nothing”.

Nevertheless the move will strengthen the hand of the opponents of war. France, Russia and Germany have already circulated a memorandum in the Security Council calling for a series of enhanced inspections running to the end of July.

Diplomats believe that it could still form the basis of a rival Security Council resolution to the one tabled on Monday night by Britain, America and Spain.

Mr Bush is timing his drive for UN backing against Iraq to the next report by UN weapons inspectors, hoping that it will convince the Security Council that force may be the only way to disarm Saddam.

The report is due on Saturday, but chief inspectors Mr Blix and Mohamed El Baradei are not expected to appear to answer council questions until March 7.

The US and its partners, Britain and Spain, plan to push for a council vote soon afterward.

In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair warned MPs it would be “weakness” not to deal with Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction. Mr Blair was seeking to rally support ahead of tonight’s crucial Commons vote.

In arguably the most important speech of his career, Mr Blair sought to convince doubters on his own backbenches on the government’s Iraq policy. There have been predictions that as many as 100 Labour MPs could be prepared to rebel.

Mr Blair said if Saddam kept up his refusal to co-operate with the inspectors and the UN did not act, its authority would be undermined.

“When we make a demand next time, what will our credibility be? This is not a road to peace but folly and weakness that will only mean the conflict when it comes is more bloody, less certain and greater in its devastation,” he said.”