The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
unable to
seize the last opportunity afforded to it by the Security Council”.
Angola [had]
made
repeated pleas to Iraq to co-operate fully and honestly with the
United Nations
in
complying with the Council resolutions relating to its
unconditional disarmament –
particularly
resolution 1441 (2002) – and to convince the international
community as
a whole
that it was making genuine and determined efforts to disarm. The
use of force
should be a
last resort; and that the decision “should be within the United
Nations
framework
in order to count on the international community’s full support”;
that Angola
had
“advocated the principle of safeguarding the Security Council’s
primacy as the most
appropriate
mechanism for regulating crisis situations and for imposing
international
law through
compliance with its resolutions”; and that it had “defended the
necessity”
of Council
unity.
1015.
Mr Wang
stated that the work programme, “if implemented” would “surely
make
the
inspections more organised, and more targeted” and would “help
enhance” their
effectiveness.
He added that:
“In the
light of recent progress made in the inspections, we believe that
it is possible
to achieve
the goal of disarming Iraq through peaceful means. We should not
put
an end
to the road to peaceful disarmament.”
He
expressed China’s “utmost regret and disappointment” about a
situation where war
might break
out at any minute. China would do all it could to avert
war.
“The
Council bears the primary responsibility for the maintenance of
international
peace and
security. No matter what the circumstances may be, the Council
must
shoulder
its responsibility …”
1017.
Mr Tafrov
stated that inspections were “truly effective only with … full and
active
co-operation
on the part of the country and Government concerned”. He stated
that
Bulgaria
sincerely regretted that efforts to disarm Iraq peacefully had “not
yielded
the desired
results”; and confirmed that “since all the political
possibilities” had “been
exhausted”,
Bulgaria’s position was that Iraq had “failed to seize its last
chance”.
1018.
Sir Jeremy
Greenstock underlined:
“… the
United Kingdom’s deep regret that it has not been possible for the
Council
to find an
agreed way forward on Iraq. The United Kingdom tried as hard as
any
member of
the Security Council to achieve that.
“… we
should not forget what brought us to this point: the fundamental
failure of
Iraq to
disarm in the face of 12 years of demands, pressure and pleas from
the
Security
Council and … virtually the whole international community. If Iraq
had made
a genuine
effort … to close outstanding issues of substance at any time in
the past
decade,
particularly after resolution 1441 (2002) afforded it the final
opportunity to
do so,
and if Iraq had respected the United Nations, we would not be where
we are.
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