UN backs Bush over new Iraq resolution

The UN Security Council unanimously approved a tough new Iraq resolution today, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences" that would almost certainly mean war.

The 15-0 vote came after eight weeks of tumultuous negotiations and was seen as a victory for the United States, which drafted the resolution together with Britain.

The broad support sends a strong message to Baghdad that the Security Council – divided for years over Iraq – expects full compliance with all UN resolutions.

Immediately after the vote, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Iraq to seize the opportunity to finally eliminate any weapons of mass destruction "for the sake of its own people, and for the sake of world security and world order." Otherwise, he said, "the Security Council must face its responsibilities."

A breakthrough in negotiations came Thursday when France and the United States reached a critical agreement to address French concerns that the resolution could automatically trigger an attack on Iraq.

President George W. Bush, who spurred the council to action with a September 12 speech to the UN General Assembly, said it was up to Saddam to cooperate with inspectors.

"When this resolution passes, I will be able to say that the United Nations has recognized the threat and now we're going to work together to disarm him," Bush said Thursday. "And he must be cooperative in the disarmament."

Chief UN weapons inspector, Hans Blix, was preparing to send an advance team to Iraq within two weeks, after a nearly four-year absence.

While the United States made some major concessions to critics, the final draft still meets the Bush administration's key demands: toughening UN weapons inspections and leaving the United States free to take military action against Iraq if inspectors say Baghdad isn't complying.

At the same time, it gives Saddam "a final opportunity" to cooperate with weapons inspectors, holds out the possibility of lifting 12-year-old sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, and reaffirms the country's sovereignty.

Washington and London spent eight weeks trying to get all 15 Security Council members to approve the resolution to send a united message to Saddam.

But Syria, Iraq's Arab neighbor, was always out of reach.

Syria had wanted the vote delayed until after an Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo this weekend. But the United States won in the end, convincing the council to vote Friday.

Russia too had remained a holdout, but only in an effort to obtain US concessions. Russia is Iraq's most important ally on the council.

The United States had tweaked its draft several times to account for French and Russian concerns over hidden triggers that could automatically launch an attack on Iraq.

In a key provision that would declare Iraq in "material breach" of its UNobligations, the United States changed wording that would have let Washington determine on its own whether Iraq had committed an infraction.

The new wording requires UN weapons inspectors to make an assessment of any Iraqi violations.

Iraqi state media called the draft resolution a pretext for war and urged the Security Council Thursday not to bow to American demands.

"America wants to use this resolution as a pretext and a cover for its aggression on Iraq and the whole Arab nation," the ruling Baath Party newspaper Al-Thawra said Thursday.

According to a strict timeline in the resolution, Iraq would have seven days to accept the resolution's terms and 30 days to declare all its chemical, biological and nuclear programs. Blix, the chief weapons inspector, said Iraq might have difficulty making a declaration of its large petrochemical industry in that time, but the United States decided against giving Baghdad more time.

Blix has said an advance team of inspectors would be on the ground within 10 days. Inspectors would have up to 45 days to actually begin work, and must report to the council 60 days later on Iraq's performance.

Inspectors will have "unconditional and unrestricted access" to all sites, including eight presidential compounds where surprise inspections have been barred.