WASHINGTON — Iraq’s rejection of any new conditions on U.N. weapons inspections could play into President George W. Bush’s hands as both Congress and the United Nations prepare to grapple with the issue this week.
With congressional leaders set to meet Monday to try to iron out differences on a resolution authorizing war, Iraq’s combative position could push Congress toward approval of such a resolution, a Democratic senator said Sunday.
Meanwhile, as Iraqi and U.N. officials prepared to meet in Vienna on Monday to try to agree on a resumption of weapons inspections, a Security Council member said that Iraq’s stance underlines the need for a new and tougher U.N. resolution on Iraq.
The Bush administration is pushing hard for both resolutions. Despite continued objections by a handful of Democrats, a congressional resolution is widely expected to pass, though disagreement remains on the exact wording. The battle in the United Nations is uphill. Many countries want to give Iraq one more chance to prove it has no weapons of mass destruction before passing any resolution that could set the stage for war.
Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said Saturday that his country welcomed weapons inspections under rules that existed when the inspections ceased in 1998, but would reject any new conditions.
The rejection indicated “a certain arrogance” on the part of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said Sunday.
“This latest reaction is not going to help him in my view at all and probably going to bring us closer to support of a resolution in the Senate and in the House,” he said on CBS’ Face the Nation.
But Reps. David Bonior, D-Mich., Jim McDermott, D-Wash., after meeting with Iraqi officials in Baghdad, said Sunday that both Congress and the United Nations should hold off on any new resolutions until Iraq tries to comply with U.N. weapons inspections.
“They should be given a chance,” McDermott said in an interview on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos. “Otherwise, you’re just trying to provoke them into war.”
© 2002, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.