WASHINGTON — In an effort to win U.N. Security Council support, the United States is backing down from its demands that a new U.N. resolution must authorize military force against Iraq if Baghdad does not abide by new weapons inspections rules.
The new U.S. approach could delay, possibly significantly, the Pentagon’s timetable for war, both because of the time it would take for inspectors to do their work, and for the diplomatic process should the inspection effort fail.
The U.S. retreat suggests that the Bush administration is anxious to preserve a multilateral approach to Iraq, as Secretary of State Colin Powell has advocated, rather than risk going it alone, the course favored by Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
Under compromise language put forward by the United States, Iraq would face unspecified serious consequences if it failed to comply with stiff requirements for the new U.N. inspections regime.
But, in a major change of approach demanded by France, Iraqi noncompliance would not automatically give the United States a green light to launch an invasion and oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, several Western diplomats said.
Instead, the U.N. Security Council would hold additional meetings and perhaps pass a new resolution authorizing the use of force.
It remains unclear whether Bush could or would launch military action while U.N. diplomats are debating.
One U.S. official said the proposal would not limit the United States from acting on its own, noting that the wording of the resolution would make it “quite clear that the Council has to do nothing more.”
But a European diplomat in New York called it unlikely. “I don’t see them going (to war) by themselves in the middle of these two steps. That doesn’t make sense,” said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
France’s initial reaction to the U.S. concession was positive, suggesting agreement on the new approach to Iraq could come soon.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov welcomed the new proposal and said Powell told him it would be formally submitted soon. “We believe that there are favorable conditions now to preserve the unity of the global community and ensure the return of international inspectors and their efficient work in Iraq,” Ivanov said in Moscow.
Ambassadors from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council — the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France — were to meet Friday in New York to hammer out a final deal, before sharing the document with the council’s 10 nonpermanent members.
“Everything should go quickly now,” the European diplomat said.
U.S. officials portrayed the outcome as a victory for their demand that Iraq submit to unfettered inspections to eliminate its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons or face stiff consequences.