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Iraqi MPs reject UN resolution
( 2002-11-13 00:13 ) (8 )

Iraq's parliament voted Tuesday to reject a UN disarmament resolution seen as a last chance to avoid war, but agreed to leave the final word to President Saddam Hussein.

In a sign that Saddam might override the members of parliament (MPs) and accept the UN Security Council's unanimous ultimatum, his elder son Uday, who is himself an MP, urged acceptance, albeit with certain provisos.

France meanwhile upped the pressure on the Iraqi leader, by giving its clearest signal yet that it might support military action against Baghdad, despite its earlier opposition to an automatic resort to force.

Speaker Saadun Hammadi announced the results of two separate votes in parliament, both conducted by a show of hands.

The 250-member parliament had met for a second day to decide on a recommendation from its Arab and international relations committee to reject Resolution 1441, despite Uday's call to agree to the UN text.

Hammadi told the press shortly before the vote that "from what I can see, there is a unanimous position that the National Assembly cannot accept the resolution, and will reject it.''

In a separate vote, MPs also decided to "mandate the political leadership ... and Saddam ... to do what they deem fit to defend the people of Iraq.''

Uday said in a working document submitted to MPs: "We have to accept the UN Security Council resolution which is at the centre of this emergency session.''

Uday called on the Arab League to provide an "umbrella'' for Iraq, and demanded that Arab experts be part of the disarmament teams from the outset of their mission, a proposal backed by the League.

But he also warned that Iraq must take the initiative and launch "armed action'' if diplomacy fails to resolve the disarmament impasse.

"In 1991, we were not the ones who fired the first bullet, but we waited for the first bullet to be fired by the other side, knowing the enormous sacrifices which would result,'' he said.

"Now we will give time to diplomacy to achieve the conditions'' required by Baghdad to agree to Resolution 1441.

"If these conditions are not achieved we have to take the initiative of rejection and of armed action against the side which intends us evil,'' he warned.

In Paris, Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin departed from France's previously less threatening line, warning there will "obviously be a use of force'' if Iraq fails to co-operate.

"It is up to Saddam Hussein, and Saddam Hussein alone, to meet his international obligations, '' de Villepin told France Inter radio.

Jordan and Saudi Arabia had on Monday called on Baghdad to comply with the UN measure to lift the spectre of war from the region.

Meanwhile US President George W. Bush continued with war preparations.

Bush used Veterans' Day celebrations to remind Saddam the United States was prepared to disarm him by force with or without UN permission.

The UN resolution passed on Friday gave Iraq one last chance to rid itself of any chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

But US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld questioned whether UN arms inspections could succeed in disarming Iraq, while insisting the US military was "fully capable'' of toppling Saddam.