WASHINGTON — With Congress giving President George W. Bush strong support on a resolution authorizing military action against Iraq, attention now turns to the United Nations, where most observers predict another strong show of support.
Private negotiations are continuing with France and Russia, two permanent members of the U.N. Security Council that have objected to U.S. and British demands for a single resolution to authorize military action unless Iraq agrees unconditionally to destroy its weapons of mass destruction.
Key leaders are still negotiating over the exact language of a compromise resolution. Bush spoke directly with French President Jacques Chirac on Wednesday. On Thursday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair met outside Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Sources close to the negotiations said the parties were moving toward compromise language in a resolution that would not make military action “automatic” in the event of continued Iraqi noncompliance but would promise “consequences” instead — an opening for U.S.-backed action without further resort to the Security Council.
© 2002, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.