The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
the problem
and the choice of whether or not it was time to consider the
serious
consequences
intended by 1441.
413.
Secretary
Powell concluded that:
“The
security of the region, the hopes for the people of Iraq, and our
security rest
upon us
meeting our responsibilities and, if it comes to it, invoking the
serious
consequences
called for in resolution 1441 …”
414.
Mr Igor
Ivanov stated that Iraq should be set clear tasks to provide
objective
criteria by
which to assess progress and the threat posed by Iraq.
415.
The debate
in the Council demonstrated that remedies other than the
use
of force
to achieve Iraq’s disarmament had not yet been
exhausted.
416.
Mr Igor
Ivanov stated that the Council should be guided by the
professional
data
provided by the inspectors to, “without making a mistake, come to
the
correct conclusion”.
417.
Substantial
progress had been made and could not be ignored. The Council
should
urge
Baghdad to increase co-operation and the work of the inspectors
“must be made
more
systematic and focused”. Iraq should be set clear tasks, including
through the
submission
of the UNMOVIC and IAEA work programme and the list of key
disarmament
tasks
required by resolution 1284 (1999). Adoption of such a programme
would provide
“objective
criteria” to assess both the degree of Baghdad’s co-operation and
whether
Iraq was “a
threat to international peace and security”.
418.
Russia’s
position, “shared by the overwhelming majority of States in the
world,
including
within the Security Council”, was that inspections “must continue”.
There was:
“… a unique
opportunity to reach agreement on how to solve this …
problem
through
political means, in strict accordance with the UN Charter. This is
a real
opportunity,
and it must not be missed. Force may be resorted to, but only when
all
other
remedies have been exhausted. As may be seen from today’s
discussion, we
have not
yet reached that point …”
419.
Other
members of the Security Council emphasised the need for
Iraq
to co-operate
actively and unconditionally to disarm; the need to
exhaust
the inspections
route; and the importance of Council unity.
420.
Mr Luiz
Derbez, the Mexican Foreign Minister, stated that the Iraqi
Government
continued
to evade its international responsibilities and the Council was
united about the
goal of
disarmament. But the Council was “increasingly divided as [to] the
most effective
and least
costly manner by which it may be achieved”. Mexico’s view was that
the
“Security
Council’s primary task” was to ensure the inspectors fulfilled
their mission.
254