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| Axis of Evil |
| No need for second vote on Iraq strike: Armitage |
| 2003-01-23 |
| The US State Department says the US feels it has enough authority to strike Iraq without going to the United Nations for a second vote on the issue. US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage says the United States has still not decided as to whether it will seek a second UN vote or not. "We believe that there is sufficient authority to move now, without a second resolution," Mr Armitage told Moscow Echo radio. "No decision has yet been made as to whether or not to seek a second resolution and certainly we will want to have a discussion in New York at the Security Council of some sort after we have hear what Mr Blix and Mr El Baradei have to say on the 27th [of January]." I think the UN really doesn't want to have to vote on this. Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix and the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammed El Baradei, are due to give a progress report on the first two months of inspections in Iraq to the UN Security Council on Monday. Mr Armitage made the comments after two days of talks with top Russian foreign ministry officials on issues ranging from the joint war on terror to the crises surrounding North Korea and Iraq. Russia has repeatedly argued only a second UN Security Council resolution can authorise the use of force against Iraq should President Saddam Hussein's regime fail to disarm. It has also lashed out against the US's threats of unilateral action against Moscow's Soviet-era Middle East ally, with which it retains close economic ties. Well, you had close economic ties. Sorry about that. |
| Posted by:Steve |