US To Propose Second Resolution: French Vow Surrender 2/21/2003 - Aaron R. Inkenbrandt In an attempt to encourage UN approval for military action in Iraq, the United States plans to submit a proposal for a second security council resolution. This second resolution is a watered-down version of the Bush Administration's original draft which directly threatened military consequences for Iraqi failure to disarm. The new US proposal will call for "haughty disdain" on the part of the UN if Iraq continues to evade weapons inspectors. US Secretary of State Colin Powell voiced his support of the new proposal stating "I think this proposal will send a strong message to the world that the UN is only mostly irrelevant." French foreign minister Dominique de Villepin dismissed news of the American proposal as "reckless" and "potentially destabilizing". de Villepin stated that if this proposal reaches the security council "the French government will have no choice but to surrender." "The fact that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction doesn't mean that they don't intend to use them" said de Villepin. British foreign minister Jack Straw along with US ambassador to France Howard H. Leach met with French President Jacques Chirac over the weekend to reassure him that NATO stands ready to defend France in the event of any Iraqi retaliation for UN disdain. Rejecting this offer, Chirac said that, "Taking measures to protect ourselves, would be tantamount to admitting that the [UN] inspections were not working." Chirac further stated "The people of France will not accept sovereignty or national security as legitimate reasons for self-defense. France will staunchly avoid provocation and to pursue an aggressive policy of pre-emptive surrender." French and German officials are expected to present an alternative second security council resolution early this week. This Franco-German resolution is expected to give Iraq one last chance to disarm before the UN concedes the Sudetenland. The proposal also leaves open the option for a third resolution possibly involving portions of Poland.
