New resolution delayed

Bush promised us last week he'd push a quick vote at the UN security council to force everyone to "show their cards". Chalk it up as another Bush broken promise, as the prospect of a 4-11 loss was just too dehabilitating to bear. The US agreed to delay the vote on a second resolution.

The United States had hoped to line up nine votes in the 15-member Security Council so it could at least claim some moral legitimacy for its ultimatum even if the resolution was killed by a veto.

But U.S. diplomats made no public headway on Monday and Washington was left with only four sure votes -- those of Britain, Spain and Bulgaria as well as its own.

France, Russia, China, Germany and Syria were definitely opposed. Pakistan, Chile, Mexico, Angola, Cameroon and Guinea remained uncommitted and were floating compromises that gave Iraq more time to comply and set benchmarks or tests.

The US agreed to delay a vote as Britain seeks a compromise resolution, making clear the UN is still relevant enough to warrant the effort (despite repeated assertions to the contrary). Granted, it may not seem relevant to Bush and his unilateralist cabal, but it's clear they fear the loss of British support -- probably the only thing at this point that can prevent Bush's invasion.

Posted March 10, 2003 10:10 PM | Comments (26)