U.S. says any false step by Iraq could lead to war

WASHINGTON (REUTERS) — Iraq will be held to a “zero tolerance” standard in meeting a new U.N. disarmament resolution, and any breach could be met with overwhelming military force with or without Security Council approval, Bush administration officials said Sunday.

The officials said Washington would initially seek U.N. backing for any military action if Iraq violates the resolution, but President Bush reserves the right to use force without Security Council approval.

“The U.N. can meet and discuss, but we don’t need their permission,” White House chief of staff Andrew Card said on NBC television’s “Meet the Press.”

The U.N. Security Council Friday unanimously adopted a resolution Friday ordering Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to eliminate all weapons of mass destruction programs or face “serious consequences.”

The resolution was adopted after the United States assured fellow Security Council members France, Russia and China that failure by Iraq to comply would not automatically trigger military action.

U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said she was “very skeptical” that the Iraqi president would meet all the terms of the resolution.

Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Rice predicted the council would treat seriously any violation and that any military action would be done in “a quite multilateral way.”

“We have to have a zero-tolerance view of the Iraqi regime this time,” Rice said. “The next material breach by Saddam Hussein must have serious consequences. I think it’s pretty clear what that may mean.”

According to Secretary of State Colin Powell, “… serious consequences — that’s a nice term, but what it means is [using] force to disarm him.”

Bush has approved a war plan for Iraq that could involve 200,000 troops once initial footholds had been captured, U.S. officials said Saturday. But the administration aides declined to discuss these plans on Sunday’s talk shows, and Bush ignored a question about them when he returned from his Camp David retreat Sunday.

Under the U.N. resolution, Iraq has until next Friday to declare its willingness to cooperate. There will be no negotiations, the officials said. “They are not accepting the resolution, they’re simply acknowledging, because they don’t have a right to accept or reject,” Rice said.

Iraqi state television reported Sunday that Saddam had ordered Parliament to convene to discuss the U.N. resolution, and a Parliament source said the body would meet Monday.

Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Maher said Iraq’s position on the resolution was “positive,” even though Baghdad had not formally accepted the test.

Powell said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the United States had not received a reply. “They should look at it calmly, they should look at it seriously, and they should comply,” he said.

Iraq has until Dec. 8 to make a full declaration of its weapons of mass destruction programs. Anything less than a complete accounting of the programs would violate the resolution, and a denial that such programs existed would not be accepted, the U.S. officials said.

“The next time Saddam Hussein demonstrably gives false information he will be held in material breach,” Rice said.

According to Powell, “We have to see cooperation right away, not wait until February.”

Powell said on CNN’s “Final Edition” that if Saddam failed to cooperate, Washington would seek Security Council backing to use “all necessary means” against him. “If the U.N. isn’t willing to do that, the United States, with like-minded nations, will go and disarm him forcefully,” he said.

He said Washington would be making its own determination of the need for military action even as the Security Council was considering a response to any Iraqi violation.

The resolution is intended as a test of Saddam’s willingness to comply, and the burden is on him to meet the resolution’s terms, Bush administration officials said.

In addition to making a full and complete declaration of his weapons programs, Saddam must lead inspectors to the weapons sites rather than force inspectors to find them, Rice said. “We do not need to waste the world’s time with another game of cat and mouse,” she added.

She also said inspectors would take steps to ensure that Iraqis familiar with Saddam’s weapons programs can speak freely with inspectors without fear of retribution.

Powell said Washington hoped top Iraqi military officers would defect if force were used against Iraq. “If military action comes, the outcome is certain … The regime will be defeated, and these generals had better make a judgment as to which side of the wall they want to be on when it’s all over.”

Asked how she viewed the likelihood Saddam would meet all of the U.N. demands, Rice said, “I think you have to be skeptical … very skeptical.”