Blix recieves Iraq nerve gas letter

The United States has rejected out of hand a proposal by Chile to give Saddam Hussein a last chance to disarm peacefully, leaving no compromise in sight and casting further doubt on any United Nations backing for war.

Some diplomats said privately that diplomacy was dead and the only question left was whether US president George Bush and his British and Spanish counterparts would decide at their summit tomorrow to drop their resolution giving Saddam a Monday ultimatum to prove Iraq was disarming or face bloodshed - or put it to a vote and face certain defeat. Nine votes – and no vetoes – are needed to pass.

Meanwhile, the UN’s chief weapons inspector Hans Blix received a 25-page letter from Iraq last night on VX nerve agent, half in English, half in Arabic. The letter would have to be translated and studied to determine what was new, and if so, whether it helped resolve any of the outstanding issues, said Blix’s spokesman, Ewen Buchanan.

Iraq had promised a letter on anthrax as well, but Buchanan made no mention of that.

Although UN Security Council diplomats met one-on-one and in small groups, no meeting of the 15 members was scheduled, a sign there was nothing left to discuss. Two lengthy and tense sessions earlier in the week and a new British proposal failed to bridge the deep chasm in the council.

The United States rejected the Chilean proposal within minutes of President Ricardo Lagos’ announcement in Santiago, because it did not include an ultimatum for war or a trigger for military action if Saddam failed to comply with the disarmament demands.

That issue, more than others, is dividing the council. France, Russia and China – all of which have veto-power and want weapons inspections to continue - earlier rejected Britain’s six-step proposal for Saddam to avert war because it would give a green light for military action if he did not complete the “to-do” list.

Chile’s proposal, a copy of which was obtained by the Associated Press, would have given Iraq up to 30 days to complete five disarmament tasks. The council would then judge the efforts and decide whether to continue UN inspections or subject Iraq to the “serious consequences” it promised in November if Saddam failed to fully co-operate.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer noted that the administration had previously dismissed similar proposals. ”If it was a non-starter then, it’s a non-starter now,” he said.

Even though there was nothing viable on the table last night that could unify the council, nobody was giving up yet, at least publicly.

“It’s not over until it is over,” said UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. “I still have hope.”

“We’re going to continue to work,” said British Ambassador Sir Jeremy Greenstock.

“As long as there’s 1% possibility for peace we’ll continue with our efforts,” China’s UN Ambassador Wang Yingfan said after meeting France’s deputy ambassador. “We cannot give up hope.”

But when asked if there was still 1%, he replied: ”Everybody knows what’s happening in that part of the world, such a big mass of the troops.”

Chile’s disarmament list for Iraq was similar to the British proposal – but it did not require Saddam to make a television appearance. Instead, the Iraqi leadership would have to write a letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Security Council stating “that Iraq will without delay” hand over all prohibited weapons and answer all outstanding questions from UN inspectors.

Blix is expected to present the security council with his list of top-priority questions that Iraq must answer about its chemical, biological and missile programmes as early as Tuesday.

The list of about a dozen items, including those on the British and Chilean list, must be approved by the security council. Under previous council resolutions, Iraq’s response is to be assessed in 120 days.