BRITAIN: The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, said yesterday that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had one last chance to avoid war and that Britain was willing to amend a UN draft resolution authorising force to meet this end.
The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, repeated his claim that he would back a war against Iraq if a draft resolution paving the way for military action was "unreasonably" vetoed by any permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Mr Straw acknowledged Britain was considering changes to the resolution it proposed with the United States and Spain, which would set the stage for a US-led invasion to rid Iraq of banned weapons.
Such changes might help attract some of the uncommitted countries on the 15-member UN Security Council, where the resolution is strongly opposed by Russia, France, Germany and China.
Diplomats said under the British proposal the resolution could be amended to give Iraq a short deadline, less than a week, to prove it has no nuclear, biological or chemical weapons after the draft resolution was adopted.
Mr Straw said Britain had always said it was "ready to discuss the wording of the resolution and take on board any suggestions as to how the process set out in that draft could be improved.
"That is exactly what we are doing," Mr Straw said. "There's certainly a possibility of an amendment and that's something we're looking at." Mr Straw also said that unlike the US, Britain opposed "regime change" as that was not part of Resolution 1441, adopted on November 8th, that threatened Iraq with "serious consequences" if it did not disarm.
"We have made it clear - British Prime Minister Tony Blair has made clear repeatedly - that if Iraq complies with 1441 and disarms its weapons of mass destruction, we accept that the government of Iraq stays in place," Mr Straw said.
Mr Straw and other key foreign ministers began arriving at the UN yesterday a meeting today at which weapons inspectors will give their latest report on Iraqi compliance with UN demands.
Mr Straw refused to say if the US agreed to any amendments but said he expected British suggestions to find "fruitful, fertile ground". Mr Straw, without spelling out his concept, also told the BBC that the British proposal was "about days and not months" - indicating Saddam would be given a very short deadline.
In Madrid, a spokesman for the Spanish Prime Minister, Mr Jose Maria Aznar, said, "Spain is prepared to accept modifications." Before Mr Straw arrived, the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, appealed to Security Council members to find a compromise on the Iraqi crisis.
"I am encouraging people to strive for a compromise, to seek a common ground and to make concessions," he said.
"The positions are very hard now. But of course there are already several proposals on the table," Mr Annan said, referring to the resolution, a French memorandum advocating continued inspections and a Canadian proposal setting a series of deadlines for Iraq to comply by March 28th.
"And so, until there is an actual vote, one cannot tell what will happen," Mr Annan said.
In Berlin the German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, said he would welcome a compromise UN resolution on Iraq if it gave weapons inspectors in Iraq more time.
"If the [compromise resolution] allows what I've always demanded, that inspectors be given more time to finish their work, then I would have - based on my basic position - no problem with that," Mr Schroder said yesterday after talks with his Italian counterpart, Mr Silvio Berlusconi. "But I can only make a judgment when I see the text, something none of us have."
Speaking during a debate on the music channel MTV to be broadcast today, Mr Blair said: "If there was a veto applied by one of the countries with a veto, or by countries that I thought were applying the veto unreasonably, in those circumstances we would" go ahead.
Questioned by a London studio audience, Mr Blair insisted Britain was "fighting very hard to get a second resolution through. As we speak now I still believe we will get that second resolution," he said.