Deep U.S.-European divisions over Iraq came to a head yesterday as Germany and France announced they are working on a broad disarmament plan for Iraq designed to avert military conflict,
according to a report in the German magazine, Der Spiegel.
The plan includes the deployment of U.N. soldiers throughout the country, reconnaissance flights and a tripling of the number of weapons inspectors,
The plan could be presented to the U.N. Security Council as a resolution, Der Spiegel said, though it was unclear how the two countries or the United Nations would win Saddam’s approval for
carrying it out.
The plan would have international peacekeepers “in effect take control of the country for years.” declare all of Iraq a no-fly zone and lead to agreements with Iraq’s neighbors to crack down on
smuggled exports of Iraqi oil as part of strengthened economic sanctions.
As part of intensified sanctions against Iraq, Western countries would tighten export control laws, Der Spiegel said. France would provide jets for reconnaissance flights to aid the
inspectors in their search for weapons.
The German and French governments have been working on the plan since the start of the year. Der Spiegel reports Germany and France are sounding out other critics of the U.S. approach
about their plan, including Russia, China and Greece.
German Defense Minister Peter Struck, attending a security policy conference in Munich, said German Chancellor Schroeder would address the topic during a speech to parliament Thursday.
An annoyed U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld learned of the proposal through news reports while speaking at the same security conference.
Rumsfeld had met with European officials throughout the day and the matter was never brought up.
The United States is likely to reject any plan developed without consulting the United States, U.S. officials said yesterday.
Earlier in the day, Rumsfeld urged the international community to support the military pressure on Saddam Hussein to avoid a war.
Rumsfeld said it was a mistake to delay war preparations and countries such as France and Germany that favor giving Iraq another chance to disarm are undermining what slim chance may
exist to avoid war.
”If the international community once again shows a lack of decisiveness, then there’s no chance that Saddam Hussein will voluntarily disarm or flee and thus no chance for a peaceful outcome,” he said
Rumsfeld blasted France, Germany and Belgium for ”inexcusable” stalling of NATO moves to help protect Turkey from any war in its neighbor Iraq.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, at the same Munich conference, spoke against accepting ”the logic of a
military campaign.”
”We must give the inspectors more time,” he said.
The announcement of the German-Franco initiative comes as the U.N. disarmament chiefs opened two days of talks in Baghdad. Chief U.N. arms inspector Hans Blix and chief U.N. atomic expert Mohamed ElBaradei went face to face with their Iraqi counterparts as they prepared to present a fresh report to the U.N. Security Council next Friday that could start a countdown to war.
After more than four hours of meetings, Blix called new disarmament talks with Iraqi officials today ”very substantial.”
