Putin and Chirac want more time for UN inspections in Iraq

MOSCOW, February 13 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov dismissed reports that Iraq had developed a ballistic missile in breach of UN resolutions, saying such armaments had already been declared by Baghdad, news agencies reported Thursday, February 13.

"The systems in question are not prohibited. They were permitted by previous decisions of the UN Security Council," the ITAR-TASS news agency quoted the Russian diplomat as saying in New York.

Fedotov said that tests, which were carried out by Iraq jointly with UN inspectors, showed that the range of the Al-Samoud and Al-Fatah missiles "exceeded by only 10-12 kilometres the permitted 150 kilometres (about 93 miles)."

Iraq "had declared this excess range in its December 7 report to the UN Security Council on weapons of mass destruction," Fedotov noted.

The situation surrounding the missiles "should be regarded not as Iraq's violation of its disarmament commitments, but as proof of its cooperation with the inspectors and of the fact that the inspections are effective," he said.

The chief UN inspector Hans Blix was told late Wednesday by a United Nations panel of experts that Iraq's Al-Samoud missile had a range that exceeded the 150-kilometre range limit imposed on Baghdad by the Security Council after the Gulf War in 1991.

With speculation high that Washington may now have the "smoking gun" it seeks to prove claims about Iraq's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said if the information were confirmed it would show Baghdad was still flouting UN disarmament resolutions.

However, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz, on a visit to Italy, denied his country had broken the rules, saying the missiles were within UN guidelines, had no guidance systems, and were unreliable, sometimes falling up to 10 kilometers (six miles) short of their target.

Blix will Friday brief the Security Council on the results of nearly three months of inspections in a report which could provide a trigger for a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Tens of thousands of U.S. and British troops are already in the Gulf region as war plans advance in preparation for a showdown which many believe is now inevitable.

France to Stand Firm

In another development, analysts said Thursday that France will push its proposals for intensified weapons inspections at a key meeting of the UN Security Council on Iraq, but is hoping to avoid a showdown with the United States, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Paris is rallying support among Security Council members for stepped-up inspections, with Germany, Russia and China already behind the initiative.

Earlier this week, Paris vetoed U.S. demands in NATO for military support for Turkey.

France's diplomatic maneuvers have exasperated and infuriated Washington, with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell accusing Paris and Berlin of trying to get Iraqi President Saddam Hussein "off the hook" on the disarmament issue.

However, analysts said that France, while keen to avert a war and resolve the Iraqi standoff by bolstering the inspections regime, was not yet ready to provoke a confrontation with the United States in the Security Council.

Guillaume Parmentier, a researcher at the French Institute of International Relations in Paris, said France had always "maintained a position that would allow it to adapt to the circumstances as they evolve."

"They don't want to start a war, but they can't exclude the possibility either," said Parmentier, who is the director of the institute's French Center on the United States.

"Little more than a week ago, France's interest was to make it difficult, maybe slow things down, but that eventually it would support, even participate in a war," explained Dana Allin, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

"It's more difficult now - no question - but it would be very damaging for France to veto a (Security Council) resolution" calling for the use of force, Allin said.

A French government source close to the Iraqi issue, while acknowledging the toughening of France's stance vis-à-vis Washington, especially within NATO, admitted: "We'll do everything to avoid using our veto."

French President Jacques Chirac, who has repeatedly said that war could only be a last resort, noted Monday that he had not seen "indisputable proof" of the existence of Iraq's alleged arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.

But U.S. media reports suggested that UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix would tell the Security Council Friday that Iraq had failed to comply with its disarmament obligations, thereby giving Washington evidence to back its requests for the authorization of military action.

Parmentier predicted that the report from Blix and International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei would not be "black and white", adding: "France's position would be much easier if the report were cut and dried."

France's intransigence, while earning Chirac high approval ratings at home, has set off a wave of anti-French sentiment in the United States, with U.S. lawmakers spewing vitriolic remarks and threatening trade sanctions.

When asked about long-term damage to Franco-U.S. relations, Allin said the biggest loser could be neither Washington nor Paris but British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has been U.S. President George W. Bush's staunchest supporter despite criticism at home.

"Both the French and the Americans are being incredibly short-sighted if they don't understand that it's in neither of their individual interests to see a situation that destroys Tony Blair politically," Allin explained.

"I think Chirac has played this very badly - I think the arguments pro and con for a war are a really close call," he added.

The researcher said the current Franco-U.S. rift was "not out of scale with past disagreements," explaining that Paris and Washington had to decide "whether to live to be allies another day, or to stoke up the disgust. And this (Bush) administration seems to be doing the latter."