Excerpts from previous political updates, by subject:

3-14-03

Diplomacy in the United Nations

The diplomatic wrangling in the U.N. Security Council grew more serious this week, at the seeming eleventh hour before a decision on how to proceed in Iraq. Secretary General Kofi Annan warned on March 10 that a decision to act alone or outside the Council would violate the United Nations charter. On March 12, the British government proposed amendments to a draft resolution under consideration in the Council, and the Bush administration appeared to back down from a pledge to call a vote no matter what.

The British proposed six disarmaments tests for Iraq. Saddam Hussein would have to admit publicly that Iraq possessed and was concealing mass destruction weapons and would pledge to disarm; Iraq would commit to allow interviews with Iraqi scientists outside Iraq; Iraq would surrender and explain its stores of anthrax and its biological weapon production facilities; Iraq would a commit to destroy proscribed missiles; and would account for all drone aircraft. However, six countries, which had not decided which way to vote on a war in Iraq, indicated that these amendments did not go far enough and that they would soon make their own proposals. In the meantime, France and Russia had not changed their threat to veto any new resolution, and the Bush administration hinted that by Monday, March 17, after a weekend meeting among the draft resolution's sponsors in the Azores, a decision would be made whether to bring the resolution to a vote or to proceed without new U.N. backing.

These proposals followed a request on February 25 by the United States, Britain and Spain to have the Security Council decide that Iraq had "failed to take the final opportunity" to cooperate with U.N. inspectors - as required by U.N. Resolution 1441. The clear implication was that if the Council endorsed the proposed language, the United States would consider it a justification for going to war.

To counter this request, France and Germany circulated a memorandum declaring that inspections should continue until at least the summer, and that the "conditions for using force against Iraq are not fulfilled." The White House replied that "it's time to deal with this problem."

U.N. Inspections

Meanwhile, U.N. inspection teams continued to tour sites in Iraq. After arriving in late November, the inspectors started with visits to the al-Dawrah Foot and Mouth Vaccine Laboratory (previously linked to Iraq's BW program), to the al Furat site (previously linked to Iraq's nuclear program), to the Khan Bani Saad Airfield (where a helicopter-dispersal system potentially for BW uses was tested in the past), to a missile testing facility in Rafah, to the al Qa Qaa site (an explosives factory previously linked to Iraq's nuclear and missile programs and alleged by Britain to have dual-use chemical plants), to the al-Tahidi Scientific Research Center (which U.S. officials have previously linked to Iraq's nuclear weapon program and to which many former Iraqi nuclear personnel have been relocated), to the Karama (Kamrah) missile plant, and to the Al-Sajoud presidential palace. The inspectors also visited Al Nasr (a site previously linked to Iraq's nuclear, chemical and missile programs), and said that a new building shown in American intelligence photographs appeared to be inactive.