Russia May Use Veto in
UN Security Council

REUTERS 4mar03

LONDON, England -- Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Tuesday that Moscow would not support any measure leading to a war on Iraq and might be prepared to use its veto in the U.N. Security Council.

"Russia has this right and if the situation so demands, Russia will of course use its right of veto -- as an extreme measure -- to avoid the worst development of the situation," Ivanov said, according to a translated version of a BBC World Service interview in London.

"Russia would not support any decision that would directly or indirectly lead to a war with Iraq," he added.

Ivanov said Moscow, which like China, France and Germany opposes the hawkish stance by Washington and London against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, would not abstain in any future U.N. Security Council vote on Iraq.

"To abstain is a position that could not take place. Russia is not indifferent to the future of Iraq," he said. "Russia will not abstain. It will take a particular position."

Ivanov insisted that unanimity in the Security Council, rather than talk of veto-wielding, was the best way to pressure Saddam into disarming.

"Only unanimity will provide success in the solution of the Iraqi problem," he said. "In the past Iraq used the differences in the Security Council and has managed to avoid solutions."

Ivanov called for concrete time-limits to be set by U.N. inspectors -- led by chief weapons inspector Hans Blix and the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei -- to complete their work.

"We insist that Blix and ElBaradei on March 7 give a clear plan for work ... and say how long it will take them," he said. "All we have asked Iraq to do so far, Iraq has carried out. Therefore, the inspectors should set out a concrete plan for their activity."

Ivanov said it would be a "serious mistake with serious consequences" if the United States went to war against Iraq without a second resolution, but declined to say what action if any Russia would take in response.

Sources: U.S. may consider abandoning second resolution Pentagon officials:
White House mulls ultimatum to Saddam

CNN 4mar03

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has not ruled out abandoning plans for a vote on a second U.N. resolution on Iraq if it's clear defeat is imminent, senior administration officials said Tuesday.

Despite intensive lobbying, the United States has not secured the nine council votes it needs along with an absence of any vetoes from the other four permanent Security Council member nations. Those veto-holding countries are France, China, Russia and Great Britain, the only U.S. ally on this issue among the five permanent members.

Officials said the United States plans to seek a vote on the resolution next week after top weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei report Friday on Iraqi disarmament.

But Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Tuesday that Moscow would oppose the new resolution and use its veto power if necessary.

"Russia has this right, and if the situation so demands, Russia will of course use its right of veto -- as an extreme measure -- to avoid the worst development of the situation," Ivanov said in a translated version of a BBC World Service interview in London. (Full story)

Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan repeated his plea Tuesday to give the inspection process more time, particularly in light of Iraq's start over the weekend on destruction of Al Samoud 2 missiles.

"Let's hear the inspectors' report on Friday and see where the council goes from there," Annan said. He called Iraq's move on the missiles and efforts to verify destruction of its anthrax and VX nerve gas stockpiles "a positive development" and said the council's decision on Iraq will rest on Friday's presentations.

White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said, "The president has said he believes that a vote is desirable. It is not mandatory."

When pressed on whether Washington would abandon the effort to get a second resolution if there weren't enough support, Fleischer said the story "has no basis. ... The president has made clear the outcome, whether the United Nations votes or does not vote, [is] that we will disarm Saddam Hussein with a coalition of the willing."

John Negroponte, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said it is too early for the United States to withdraw the resolution. "We haven't crossed that bridge," Negroponte said.

Pentagon officials said the White House is weighing the question of an 11th-hour ultimatum to Saddam before launching any attack.

Officials would not discuss what the ultimatum would demand, except to say that it would serve as a public warning that war was imminent so that humanitarian workers, journalists and others could decide whether to leave Baghdad.

The United States has said that it would welcome a decision by Saddam to step down voluntarily and accept exile in another country, but officials would not say if that would be part of a demand.

Secret talks with Mexico In an effort to build support for the U.N. resolution, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell held a secret meeting Monday in Washington with Mexico's foreign minister, CNN has learned.

A U.S. official said Powell and Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez were "trying to parse" new language for the second resolution to satisfy a Mexican request to modify the text and extend the deadline for weapons inspections.

Another senior U.S. official, who was briefed on the meeting, said it "did not produce results."

U.S. attention is focused on the group of six nonpermanent Security Council countries: Mexico, Guinea, Cameroon, Angola, Chile and Pakistan -- known in U.N. circles as the "undecided six."

Deployment at 310,000 With the United States beefing up its military might around Iraq, another 60,000 troops -- including all 17,000 soldiers of the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division -- received orders to deploy to the Persian Gulf region, military officials said Monday.

The newly deployed troops would bring the number of forces in the Central Command region to about 310,000. The United States has more than 250,000 troops deployed, of which about 215,000 are in the immediate gulf region.

The troops who received the latest deployment orders were described as "follow-on forces," not part of the main invasion group that would take part in any war with Iraq.