White House open to delaying UN vote until next week

The White House today said it was open to delaying briefly a vote on its UN war resolution until next week if the delay would help win it support.

“It may conclude tomorrow. It may continue into next week,” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

Earlier Guinea, which had been wooed by both sides, indicated that it might abstain from any Security Council vote.

Bush’s chief spokesman has said for days that the vote would be held this week.

A senior White House official said the president decided a few extra days of diplomacy might help British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is facing stiff domestic opposition to war while he tries to forge a compromise.

The US-British backed resolution under consideration sets a Monday deadline for Iraq to disarm. Pushing back the deadline for a vote likely means that deadline would be delayed as well.

“The president is willing to go the extra mile for a diplomacy,” Fleischer said. “There is a limit on how far he’s willing to do.”

He said Bush was still committed to staging a UN vote.

US officials had said earlier that France is sending exactly the wrong message to Iraq’s Saddam Hussein by threatening to veto a United Nations resolution that would order him to disarm immediately or face war.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday the stand of French President Jacques Chirac is making it less likely Iraq can be disarmed peacefully and the White House suggested for the first time that voting against the resolution in the Security Council could damage a country’s relationship with the United States.

France, along with Russia, has threatened to veto the resolution should it receive the nine Security Council votes necessary for approval.

“Unfortunately, President Chirac has said that no matter what, they’re going to veto the resolution,” Boucher said. ”I suppose that factor needs to be taken into account by all those who are proceeding here.

“But, frankly, saying that he’ll veto the resolution no matter what sends precisely the wrong signal to Baghdad, precisely the wrong signal for those who want peaceful disarmament,” Boucher said.

The resolution expected to come before the council would extend the deadline for Iraq to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction beyond the previously envisioned date of March 17, diplomats said.

The Bush administration has indicated it would support only a brief extension.

President George Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday phoned world leaders to seek their support for the resolution.

Bush talked to Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia, Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines and Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, Lithuanian President Rolandas Paksas and Mr Blair.

Powell talked to Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Foreign Ministers Ana Palacio of Spain, Luis Ernesto Derbez of Mexico and Dominique de Villepin of France.