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Britain
Blair feels the heat over Iraq as weasels meet
2003-02-25
The chasm between Britain and France over Iraq widened last night when the two countries clashed bitterly on a second United Nations resolution, designed as the trigger for war.
That chasm was already a mile wide. Now it's wider.
As Tony Blair prepared for a crucial Commons debate on Iraq tomorrow, France stepped up the pressure by circulating to the UN separate proposals aimed at averting military action by calling for the weapons inspections to continue. The timetable would be far more generous, stipulating a delay of four months before the inspectors provided a first important progress report compared with the two-week deadline for a Security Council vote being pushed by the Prime Minister and President George Bush in their draft, introduced yesterday afternoon.
Of course, after that first report the inspectors would get another four months so as to make a second report to compare to the first report. And then another four months for a tie-breaker. Nobody, nobody out-gauls the French.
Hours earlier, Mr Bush indicated yet again that his patience with diplomacy had all but run out. He urged the UN to prove it was "a body that means what it says". The President had "very little hope left" that Saddam Hussein would respond to the diplomatic pressure, his spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said.
Especially with the Frenchies running interference for Saddam.
In a boost for the White House and Mr Blair, their tough stance appeared to be vindicated by President Saddam himself, in remarks to CBS News last night. Dan Rather, the news weasel presenter who conducted the sham interview, said the Iraqi leader indicated he would not destroy his al-Samoud missiles, as the UN was demanding. Instead President Saddam challenged Mr Bush to a live international television interview, an offer dismissed by Mr Fleischer as "not a serious statement".
Actually this could be fun, and I nominate Fred, Steve and Alaska Paul to do the closed-captioning for Saddam if it ever happens.
The quarrel over the way ahead on Iraq deepened when Britain, America and Spain co-sponsored the draft UN resolution that concluded that "Iraq has failed to take the final opportunity afforded it in resolution 1441".
Oh, we got Spain on board the resolution? Good!
Dominique de Villepin, the French Foreign Minister, described the move as an "error" and "too hasty", leaving no doubt that France, the veto-holding leader of the anti-war camp of weasels, will maintain its campaign to break the momentum for war. Washington and London are far short of the required nine-vote council majority, with only Spain and Bulgaria certain to support them.
Mexico and Chile had BETTER pay attention when we ask them for support.
M. de Villepin said: "There are some countries that think correctly today it's important to table a second resolution. We think it isn't necessary or useful." The latest row between European Union partners erupted as Jacques Chirac, the French President, and Gerhard Schröder, the German Chancellor, held a summit of weasels in Berlin.
Where were the Belgians?
President Chirac said on his arrival in Berlin that France's plan, backed by Germany and Russia, would establish "a timetable for Iraq's disarmament, programme by programme, relating to weapons of mass destruction". He continued: "We see no reason to change our illogic, which is the illogic of peace, and turn toward a logic of war."

The French plans were dismissed by Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, as treating President Saddam "like a coddled child". Mr Straw said only the threat of force had persuaded Iraq to give limited co-operation to the inspectors and, without action President Saddam "will conclude this threat of force is not credible" and will delay "indefinitely".
Mr. Straw, as usual, gets it right.
Posted by:Steve White

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Posted by: True German Ally   2003-02-25 22:47:59  

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Posted by: Patrick Phillips   2003-02-25 21:56:56  

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Posted by: True German Ally   2003-02-25 21:36:16  

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Posted by: Patrick Phillips   2003-02-25 20:41:26  

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Posted by: True German Ally   2003-02-25 19:44:14  

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Posted by: RW   2003-02-25 11:57:13  

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Posted by: RW   2003-02-25 01:15:58  

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