Powell Calls for U.N. to Act on Iraq and Meets Deep Resistance. Because all nations agreed it was important to keep up the military pressure, some countries hinted that they might support a deadline that would give Mr. Hussein a short period to make a breakthrough in disclosing his hidden weapons. [New York Times]
If the two sides can bring themselves to back down from their rhetoric, the grounds for a compromise may be before them. Clearly, weapons inspections without a clear cut deadline have been a failure - Iraq has danced around them for twelve years. But it also seems clear that the inspectors do need more time to complete their job.
The next resolution should specify a deadline, developed in consultation with the weapons inspectors, by which the Iraqis must answer all outstanding questions. Failure to answer the questions to the satisfaction of the Security Council by that deadline would immediately allow for "serious consequences."
This solution seems to meet the concerns of all involved. It gives the French, Germans, and Russians what they want by granting the inspectors the time they need to complete the job. It gives the United States what it wants (albeit perhaps on a slower schedule than they would choose), by giving them a clear path to a war to disarm Iraq, if that were required. And it gives the Iraqis the incentive to cooperate.
A resolution such as this serves the interests of the world. If the Iraqis meet the deadline, then their disarmament will come peacefully, their sanctions can be lifted, and the cloud of war will be removed. If they fail, then they will be disarmed by the entire United Nations, not the US and its small band of allies. And finally, the world will be relieved of the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
11:18:09 PM 
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