The US, The UN and Iraq

Anti-Iraq Force Ready; New UN Resolution Possible

Thursday, February 20, 2003 9:32 p.m. ET

By Patricia Wilson

KENNESAW, Ga. (Reuters) - The United States declared on Thursday it had massed a big enough force in the Gulf to attack Iraq at any time and senior U.S. officials said Washington would seek U.N. approval next week for a possible war.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, whose country is one of five veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council, said U.N. arms inspectors in Iraq were coming under pressure to produce reports which would back the case for war and urged them to remain objective in carrying out their task.

Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul, whose help the United States is seeking in obtaining a springboard for any military thrust into neighboring northern Iraq, said he would make a statement on Friday about the issue.

An administration official traveling with President Bush on a visit to Georgia said Washington would present a new resolution on Iraq -- which the U.N. has ordered to scrap any weapons of mass destruction in its arsenal -- to the Security Council next week.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said the wording of the resolution was still under review but it would make clear Iraq had not fulfilled Resolution 1441 passed in November.

.....The majority of countries said the inspection route was producing results, even as they faulted Iraq for not fully cooperating with the inspectors.

Tuesday, 18 February, 2003, 10:17 GMT
Polio campaign launched in Iraq
By David Loyn
BBC correspondent


The UN children's agency Unicef is to vaccinate four million Iraqi children against polio ...
... Despite the imminent threat of war, Unicef is going ahead with a vaccination programme at the end of next week.

Turks say US troop agreement unlikely before Tuesday


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The Associated Press Feb. 21, 2003

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ANKARA - Turkey doesn't expect a crucial vote on whether to allow in US combat soldiers for an Iraq war before next week, Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis said Thursday, as US and Turkish negotiators struggled to close a $4 billion gap between Turkey's demand for financial aid and a US offer.

In a sign that a breakthrough might be possible, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said in Washington that "there may be some creative things we can do" to gain acceptance of a proposed aid package.

Turkish Economy Minister Ali Babacan said the dispute could be resolved "within days."
"We're somewhere close to an end in the negotiations," Yakis said.
Turkey has demanded $10b. in aid, while the US is proposing some $6b.

Negotiators are now discussing the possibility that some of the US money could be converted into much larger loans, a Western diplomat said. Under the formula being discussed, each billion in grants that is converted would become $6b. to $10b. in loans, depending on the length of the loan and the amount of interest paid, the diplomat said.

But it is not clear whether Washington will accept more delays.
Powell said he expected an answer from Turkey by the end of Thursday. US officials say a reply is urgently needed and that delays could hamper war plans.

Asked when Turkey would send its reply, Yakis said: "There is no question of an answer going today," the Anatolia news agency reported. "It is difficult for the authorization to come to parliament this week."

But he left open the possibility that the government could decide in principle earlier and leave the final authorization for next week.
Prime Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters that a statement would be made Friday about the basing of US troops. He did not elaborate.

Middle East - AP

U.N. Says Iraq Not Fully Cooperative
2 hours, 38 minutes ago

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations (news - web sites) joined the United States and Britain on Thursday in saying that Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) is still not cooperating fully with U.N. inspectors despite Iraq's go-ahead for surveillance flights and hand-over of new lists of scientists.


U.N., U.S., and British officials said Iraq still has not provided evidence to answer outstanding questions about its nuclear, chemical, biological and long-range missile programs.


"Clearly Iraq needs to do more by way of cooperating, particularly on unresolved disarmament issues, which are clearly issues of substance," said Ewen Buchanan, spokesman for chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix.

Anthrax, Small Pox and Ebola as compared to a two-by-four. Ah well, I'm in the wrong place for any sensibilities.

I think there's another problem with this war with Iraq. It's been said that over fifty percent of Iraqi's are under the age of 15. This means that any collateral damage will more than likely be children. Has our government considered this?

IRAQ/Age structure:
0-14 years: 41.1% (male 5,003,755; female 4,849,238)
15-64 years: 55.9% (male 6,794,265; female 6,624,662)
65 years and over: 3% (male 341,520; female 388,376) (2002 est.)
CIA World Factbook 2002