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US gives inspectors more time
01/03/2003 16:00 - (SA)
Paris - US Secretary of State Colin Powell said in a radio interview aired on Saturday that the United States is giving more time to weapons inspectors in Iraq and that a US-backed resolution paving the way for military action will not be voted on immediately.
Powell also said that the US intent was not to "remodel" the Middle East.
The United States, along with Britain and Spain, has sponsored a UN resolution paving the way for military action against Iraq for failing to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction.
France - which has veto power at the UN Security Council - is strongly opposed to the resolution, and has taken the lead among nations seeking to give UN weapons inspectors in Iraq more time and better means to do their job. Paris, along with Germany and Russia, has proposed bolstered measures for inspectors within the current Resolution 1441 that set the inspections process in motion.
"We have not yet asked for a vote (on the second resolution) because we're still looking for a peaceful solution," Powell told RFI. His comments, made on Friday and aired here on Saturday, were dubbed in French.
"We are giving the inspections process more time, as many have asked for," he said. "But in the end, one must conclude we can't go on very long like that."
Powell said he was in "complete disagreement" with French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin who recently suggested that Washington might be seeking the "remodelling" of the Middle East by deposing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Powell reiterated that there was but one objective to Resolution 1441 - disarming Iraq.
"I must nevertheless say that if we are incapable of forcing Iraq to respect its commitments, military action becomes necessary to topple this regime and destroy arms of mass destruction."
The US secretary of state added: "It's clear for me that a new regime would better respond to the aspirations of Iraqis. This new regime will live in peace with its neighbours. Perhaps that would help the entire region to find peace, stability and prosperity."
Powell concluded by saying that "the idea that we do this to remodel all the states of the Middle East is not correct and I think that Mr de Villepin is wrong."
France has not rejected the idea of military action against Iraq but says such a move can only be decided after peaceful options to achieve disarmament have been exhausted. - Sapa-AP
- SAPA
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