Bush spokesman demands UN action

Turning up pressure on sceptical allies, President George Bush’s spokesman today demanded that the UN confront Iraq.

He warned that “Saddam Hussein is taking advantage of weakness and the world needs to do something different.”

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said US diplomats at the UN, Secretary of State Colin Powell and perhaps the president himself would be working behind the scene to get a tough new resolution to disarm Iraq, with force if necessary.

“This is coming down to the wire,” Fleischer said.

Bush administration officials are pushing for a UN Security Council vote by the end of the week on a resolution authorising the use of military force if the Iraqi leader doesn’t disarm.

But the five council members with veto power remain divided.

Russia and France introduced their own proposals which do not threaten military action. Bush also did not appear to win new support for his stand on Iraq at this weekend’s Asian-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum in Mexico.

France, Russia and China – all veto-wielding council members – want the resolution to give Iraq a chance to cooperate with UN weapons inspectors.

If Baghdad fails to comply, they want the Security Council to meet and only then consider military action in a second document.

But the United States and Britain, the other two veto-wielding members, are demanding a single resolution.

The White House strategy is to persuade allies that Bush will confront Saddam one way or another.

That forces them to choose between backing the United States or swallowing a dose of irrelevancy as Bush proceeds without them.

Fleischer said the United Nations faces the choice of acting firmly against Iraq or returning to “acquiescence slumber”.

“This is the United Nations’ chance to do some good or this is the United Nations’ chance to fail,” he said.

The Security Council began consultations today with a briefing from chief weapons inspector Hans Blix and Mohammed ElBaradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is in charge of nuclear inspections.

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin today proposed a meeting of fellow foreign ministers at the Security Council to smooth out differences on disarming Iraq.

“Our objective is now twofold: reaching a conclusion quickly, and doing so on the basis of as large a consensus as possible in the Security Council,” de Villepin said.

For a resolution to be adopted, it needs at least nine ”yes” votes and no veto by one of the five permanent members.

Bush renewed his pledge over the weekend to mobilise a coalition against the Iraqi leader – without the United Nations, if necessary.

Spokesman Fleischer said it would be “not very hard at all” to assemble an alliance to confront Saddam without the United Nations.