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US Softens on UN Resolution

The United States has found a compromise with the French for UN Security Council Resolutions. The US wanted a single resolution that carries the threat of force should Iraq interfere with weapons inspections. France, leading Russia and China, wanted two resolutions: one that demands weapons inspections, and a second resolution that would carry the threat of force, but only if the first resolution had been violated. The US is expected to present a draft of the compromise resolution very soon. It will probably be ratified by the end of October.

Reuters reports that the US decided that the single resolution wasn't necessary, since a) it wasn't going to convince France to ratify it in the first place and b) if the second resolution authorizing force doesn't pass, it would have the support from enough coalition partners to proceed anyway. They described the compromise a the US making concessions, and France responding favorably.

AP
described the US action as "backing down" in the face of solid opposition during the last two days of open debate in the General Assembly.

Another AP story makes the important point that France refused to respond to the change of heart, although the Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov seemed delighted.

MSNBC describes this as a "softening" by the US. They also seem to be taking credit for breaking the story of Secretary of State Powell's "secret talks" which led to the change. It adds that the compromise resolution would include the phrase "material breach." That phrase is significant, says MSNBC, because it is the same phrase cited by NATO to justify their attacks in Kosovo after the UN refused to act on the broken resolution against Serbia.

CNN
added that the US has also dropped its request to send a representative with the UNMOVIC inspectors. Remember that during the UNSCOM inspection regime, the US was caught spying on Iraq using its inspectors. That led to UNSCOM being disbanded and replaced with a presumably non-aligned international inspection team, UNMOVIC.

A later Reuters piece suggests that Russia may add its own riders to the potentially successful draft. The piece also plays up the recent "we could go it alone if we needed to" messages from the US.