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RACE
AGAINST TIME
STOP PRESS: A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY
Because of the Turkish parliaments vote, it is widely predicted
that the war timetable has slipped back by at least a week to
somewhere around 1 April.
But the Security Council is required by paragraph 7 of Resolution
1284 to agree, a work programme for the inspectors by 27 March.
This work programme is supposed to include a set of key disarmament
tasks, defining clearly and precisely what Iraq has to do to satisfy
the world that it has disarmed.
In other words, by 27 March the Security Council is supposed to
START the process of verifiable disarmament. If this happens,
it will be politically impossible for the US to go to war in the
next few weeks, giving us a chance to derail the war completely.
IRAQ HAS NOT YET BEEN TESTED
The draft resolution put to the Security Council by the US and
UK says only that Iraq has failed to take the final opportunity
afforded to it by resolution 1441. How can Iraq 'fail' this test
when the UN Security Council has not yet drawn up the examination
paper, or presented it to those being tested, or set a deadline
for the examination to be over?
The 'key disarmament tasks' are also 'key anti- war tasks' for
the peace movement. We must press our MPs to champion the process
set out in Resolution 1284 and to force the UK and US governments
to allow the definition of the key disarmament tasks by 27 March.
WHAT THE BRITISH PEOPLE THINK
The advice proffered by a large majority of Britons to Mr Blair
is thus clear. He should not continue to make active preparations
for launching an early military assault on Iraq (32 per cent of
British people). Rather, he should inform the Bush administration
that he lacks the necessary public support for war in the UK,
and the US will therefore either have to go it alone or else give
the UN weapons inspectors more time to complete their work (63
per cent). (Telegraph, 19 Feb., p. 4)
1) Please phone/fax/email your MP/MSP/Member of the NAW.
2) Please circulate this information in the peace movement - click
here for a more detailed
briefing
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