3.8 |
Development of UK strategy and options, 8 to 20 March
2003
981.
Dr Blix
said that the draft work programme “would seem to have only
limited
practical
relevance in the current situation”. It was “evidently for the
Council to consider
the next
steps”. He hoped the Council would “be aware” that it had “in
UNMOVIC
staff a
unique body of international experts”; that “no other international
organisation
has trained
inspectors in the field of biological weapons and missiles”; and
that,
“With
increasing attention being devoted to proliferation of these
weapons [of mass
destruction],
this capability may be valuable to the Council”.
982.
Mr Gustavo
Zlauvinen, International Atomic Energy Agency
representative
to the
UN, said that the Agency had transmitted its work programme, which
was
“self‑explanatory”,
to the Council that morning. Dr ElBaradei would be “available
any
time in the
future to discuss … the work programme should the Council decide to
do so”.
983.
Mr Joschka
Fischer, the German Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister, stated
that
the world
was “facing an imminent war in Iraq”. The Security Council could
not “remain
silent” and
its task “must be to safeguard its function and preserve its
relevance”.
Developments
had “brought the work of the United Nations on the ground to a
standstill”
and were
“cause for the deepest concern”. The draft work programme “with
its
realistic
description of unresolved disarmament issues” provided “clear and
convincing
guidelines
on how to disarm Iraq peacefully within a short space of time”. He
wanted “to
stress”
that it was “possible to disarm Iraq peacefully by upholding those
demands with
tight
deadlines”. Peaceful means had “not been exhausted” and Germany
“emphatically
rejects the
impending war”.
984.
Mr Fischer
deeply regretted that “considerable efforts to disarm Iraq using
peaceful
means”
seemed to have little chance of success. France, Germany and Russia
had
“put
forward proposals for a more efficient inspections regime
consisting of clear
disarmament
steps with deadlines, most recently on 15 March”, and other
members
of the
Council had also “submitted constructive proposals until the final
hours of
the negotiations”.
“During the
last few days, we have moved significantly closer to our
common
objective:
that of effectively countering the risk posed by Iraqi weapons of
mass
destruction
with complete and comprehensive arms control. Especially in
recent
weeks,
substantial progress was made in disarmament. The scrapping of
the
Al Samoud
missiles made headway … And the regime in Baghdad is
beginning,
under
pressure, to clear up the unanswered questions on VX and
anthrax.”
986.
Mr Fischer
continued:
“Iraq’s
readiness to co-operate was unsatisfactory. It was hesitant and
slow. The
Council
agrees on that. But can this seriously be regarded as grounds for
war…?
575