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The U.S. is likely to get the support of the Security Council for its war plans against Iraq |
LONDON,
August 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – U.S. President George
W. Bush is likely to get U.N. support for a war against Iraq, as his
team is experienced in managing international opinion, a U.K.
newspaper columnist said Thursday, August 15.
In
an article published in the Guardian, Dan Plesch,
said that Bush’s team are used to getting their own way. “Key
officials including Dick Cheney, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice
were in office when the Soviet Union collapsed, Germany was unified
and the Gulf war was won. Nowadays they see their duty as being to
eliminate the axis of evil,” he said.
Displaying
an overview of how the U.S. manages international opinion, Plesch said
that at first U.S. policy appears lonely and extreme.
After
that, he said there is a debate around the idea that the U.S. does not
want to be restricted by the U.N. “When the U.S. magnanimously
decides that it will accept some form of U.N. blessing, there is a
carefully orchestrated sigh of relief that America is returning to the
multilateral fold,” said Plesch.
The
first country to agree will be the U.K., closely followed by Russia,
which needs U.S. economic support and membership to the World Trade
Organization.
“Without
Russian opposition, France will not want to use its veto. China has a
consistent policy of abstention,” said Plesch.
He
added that the U.S. has always managed to strike deals and intimidate
other states into supporting U.N. resolutions. Plesch said that even
some of the non-permanent members of the security council will be keen
to help the U.S.
For
instance, he said, Bulgaria
wants NATO membership; Colombia is reliant on Washington in its civil
war; Norway has a conservative government and is anxious not to upset
its guarantor against neighboring Russia; Mexico and Ireland have
strong economic dependence on the U.S.
This
leaves Syria, Cameroon, Guinea and Singapore. The U.S. will therefore
be able to find a majority of positive votes with a few abstentions,
said Plesch. “Indeed, of the total of 15 security council members
(five permanent and 10 temporary) the U.S. may even now be able to
count on eight votes just by dragging the weak temporary members into
line,” he added.
But
the U.S. will also make further pretexts for a war against Iraq, he
said. Even after the U.N. experts are allowed to go in, real or
exaggerated facts will be brought out, or enough of a provocation made
to Iraq that it expels the inspectors, he said.
He
said that many commentators and politicians will be so grateful for
some kind of U.N. resolution that they will pay little attention to
what is in it, and even if it falls short of authorizing war, many
will be trapped into support for a “U.N.-sponsored war”.
Plesch
is the senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute
for Defense Studies in the U.K.
