A rchive Date
[ 09-11-2002 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Britain ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2002/11/08/3951-ap.html
Blair warns Saddam
By BETH GARDINER - Associated Press
Fri, November 8, 2002
LONDON (AP) - Prime Minister Tony Blair warned Saddam Hussein to comply with a new resolution on the return of weapons inspectors or "we will disarm you by force."
Blair has been President Bush's staunchest overseas ally on Iraq, pushing along with the president for a tough stance toward Saddam. He said Saddam would face grave consequences if he disobeys the resolution.
"Defy the U.N.'s will and we will disarm you by force," Blair told reporters at his 10 Downing St. office. "Be in no doubt whatever over that."
Blair said that if Saddam refused to cooperate, there would be further discussion at the United Nations about what to do. He emphasized that the resolution was not "an automatic trigger point" for war.
"If Saddam complies, that is the U.N. mandate fulfilled," he said. "I may find this regime abhorrent - any moral person would. But the survival of it is in his hands. Conflict is not inevitable, but disarmament is."
The resolution, which the U.N. Security Council approved unanimously, said Saddam must disarm or face "serious consequences" that would almost certainly mean war.
"Everyone now accepts that if there is a defiance by Saddam the international community must act to enforce its will," Blair said. "Failure to do so would mean (that) having stated our clear demand we lacked the will to enforce it."
The vote came after eight weeks of tumultuous negotiations and was seen as a victory for the United States, which drafted the resolution together with Britain.
Blair said the world community had chosen "disarmament through the U.N., with force as a last resort."
Blair's strong support of the U.S. position has cost him some support at home, where opinion on a possible war is mixed.
Earlier, Jeremy Greenstock, Britain's ambassador to the United Nations, accused Saddam of defying the world body in the past and trying to hinder inspectors since the first U.N. resolution requiring him to disarm after the Gulf War.
"The Security Council has clearly stated that the U.N. will tolerate no longer this defiance," Greenstock said.
"As it makes crystal clear, Iraq is being given a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations, a final opportunity to remedy its material breach. ... The regime in Baghdad now faces an unequivocal choice between complete disarmament and the serious consequences spelled out."
He said, "Because of the strength of this signal, there is at last the chance that Iraq will finally comply with its obligations and that military action can be averted."
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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