Bush warns Iraq to comply with UN resolution

12.00pm

WASHINGTON - United States President George W Bush warned Iraq that it would face "the severest consequences" if it refused to adhere to the terms of a UN Security Council resolution requiring Baghdad to disarm.

"The resolution approved today presents the Iraqi regime with a test, a final test. Iraq must now without delay or negotiations fully disarm," he said.

Shortly after the Security Council gave unanimous approval to a resolution Bush called for on September 12, the president used threatening language against Iraq during an appearance at the White House, saying the United States will lead a coalition to disarm Iraq if it does not cooperate.

Bush said Iraqi President Saddam Hussein must make no attempt at negotiating the resolution's terms for allowing UN inspectors back into the country.

"His cooperation must be prompt and unconditional or he will face the severest consequences," said Bush, with Secretary of State Colin Powell standing beside him in the Rose Garden.

The 15-0 vote was a major victory for Bush, giving him international cover to carry out a tough policy against Baghdad if Saddam fails to disarm. The president already has persuaded the US Congress to grant him authority to wage war if needed.

Bush gave no sign that he felt obligated to return to the Security Council for approval of military action should he judge it necessary.

The resolution leaves Washington free to attack Iraq without a formal second UN resolution authorising the use of force. But it requires the Security Council to assess any serious violation that could lead to war.

"The United States has agreed to discuss any material breach with the Security Council, but without jeopardising our freedom of action to defend our country," Bush said.

DEBATE WON'T STOP US ACTION

A senior Bush administration official said the United States would join any subsequent discussions with the Security Council on whether Iraq was in defiance but would not let a debate stop Washington from taking military action.

"Those discussions might produce another resolution or might not. And while those discussions are taking place, and the United States will be a part of those discussions, the president has not lost any of his authority at some point to say, you know, 'I've got to act, and who wants to act with us?"' the official said.

Bush urged the Security Council not to "lapse into unproductive debates over whether specific instances of Iraqi non compliance are serious. Any Iraqi non compliance is serious."

"If we are to avert war, all nations must continue to pressure Saddam Hussein to accept this resolution and to comply with his obligations," he said.

In keeping with his desire for an international consensus, Bush did not mention the official US policy of "regime change," instead emphasising Saddam must disarm.

A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity at a White House briefing, laid down a low threshold for finding Iraq guilty of violating the resolution and said, "we will know rather quickly whether or not they are cooperating."

The unanimous vote, coming after eight weeks of deliberations on the structure of the resolution, was in doubt until just before the vote.

The US ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte, got the word that Syria would vote yes just as he went into the Security Council chamber.

"I think Syria just ultimately saw where their interests were in this matter," said a senior US official.

Secretary of State Colin Powell went through a blizzard of negotiations over minute details of the language.

He got word from French Foreign Minister Dominique Villepin of a French agreement on the meaning of the term "material breach" last Saturday when Powell's mobile phone went off 20 minutes before walking down the aisle for his daughter's wedding.

And on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov called Powell at 9 a.m. with an abrupt comment in Russian to say Moscow was on board: "Khorosho, da (OK, yes)."

- REUTERS

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