Chirac counters Anglo-American resolution

President Jacques Chirac announced tonight that France, Germany and Russia have submitted a proposal in the UN for the step-by-step disarmament of Iraq, part of a European drive to counter Anglo-American pressure for military action.

“The aim is to establish a timetable for Iraq’s disarmament, programme by programme, relating to weapons of mass destruction,” Chirac said before talks in Berlin with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.