DATE=12/17/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=US - IRAQ - UN (L)
NUMBER=2-257263
BYLINE=DEBORAH TATE
DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:


INTRO:  The Clinton administration is welcoming a U-N 
Security Council resolution passed Friday that could 
send U-N arms inspectors back to Iraq if Baghdad 
cooperates.  But three of the five permanent council 
members abstained from the 11-to-zero vote - a fact 
that U-S officials are playing down.  Correspondent 
Deborah Tate reports from the White House.

Text:  The decision by permanent Council members 
France, China and Russia, along with Malaysia, to 
abstain from the vote foiled (frustrated) U-S and 
British hopes for a unified international stand on the 
issue of  full Iraqi compliance with U-N demands.

But at the White House, spokesman Joe Lockhart put the 
best spin (interpretation) on the Security Council 
action.

            /// Lockhart Act ///

      I think the bottom line is there was a strong 
      majority that sent a strong message to Saddam 
      Hussein, and passed a strong resolution.  This 
      gives new powers to the U-N Security Council.

            /// End Act ///

In abstaining, Russia, China and France argued that 
the British-sponsored resolution did not exactly 
specify how Iraq must comply before economic sanctions 
are eased.

The Security Council has been seeking a way to return 
U-N weapons inspectors to Iraq since they were 
withdrawn a year ago, just days ahead of U-S and 
British air attacks on that country after it refused 
to cooperate with the inspection process.

Iraq - which denies it has any weapons of mass 
destruction - has refused to allow arms experts to 
return and has rejected this latest resolution.

White House spokesman Lockhart says the issue of 
whether Iraq remains isolated from the international 
community remains in the hands of its leader, Saddam 
Hussein.

            /// Lockhart Act ///

      He has got a fundamental decision to make which 
      he has faced in the past and has tried to avoid, 
      and this is another statement and resolution 
      that puts the onus back on him to decide on 
      whether he is going to allow the inspectors to 
      come in, whether he is going to fulfill the 
      disarmament task that they have laid out for 
      him, or whether he is going to cooperate and 
      comply with the United Nations.  If he does not 
      do that, he lives in a world of sanctions.

            /// End Act ///

The resolution would allow economic and political 
sanctions - imposed on Iraq after it invaded Kuwait in 
1990 - to be suspended if Baghdad complies with U-N 
weapons inspections for 120 days.  The suspension 
would be renewable every four months.  (signed)

NEB/DAT/JP




17-Dec-1999 16:00 PM EDT (17-Dec-1999 2100 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.