Annan Presses Bush to Avoid a Rush to War

Secretary General Kofi Annan said today that the United States seemed to have a lower threshold for going to war in Iraq than other nations on the United Nations Security Council.

After meeting with President Bush, Mr. Annan urged the White House to be "a bit patient" against any rush toward military action. If it comes, he added, military action would have to be based on credible evidence of Iraq's obstruction, and not a "flimsy" excuse to go to war.

The secretary general's comments reflected the divergence of views between the Bush administration and some Security Council nations over what kind of obstructions would constitute the trigger for going to war.

Mr. Annan indicated that United Nations inspectors, with tough new powers under the resolution, are returning for what could be an indefinite program to inspect former and suspected weapons sites, to set up surveillance cameras and other monitoring equipment, and to run down every bit of intelligence on Iraqi efforts to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and the missiles that could be used to hurl them across borders. But he refused to be drawn into discussing hypothetical details of what might constitute obstruction.

The position of the Bush administration has trended the other way. Mr. Bush and his senior aides have emphasized that President Saddam Hussein is unlikely to confess to years of concealing illicit stockpiles of weapons, including banned nerve agents and anthrax spores. Some conservative aides continue to denigrate the United Nations' role.

On Sept. 12, Mr. Annan had challenged Mr. Bush to work through the United Nations in words that were almost as forceful as those Mr. Bush used to challenge the Security Council to enforce its resolutions on disarming Iraq.

"I want to thank you, Mr. President," Mr. Annan said to Mr. Bush today in the presence of reporters. "Nobody knew which way you were going to go" in confronting Iraq. "I was pleading that we go the multilateral route. And I think we were all relieved that we did — you did."

But patience was Mr. Annan's watchword today. During a meeting with reporters before he went to the White House, he observed that the United States "does seem to have a lower threshold" for what would trigger war.

Still, he admonished, "We need to be patient and give the inspectors time and space to do their work. We should not be seen as rushing the process and impatiently moving on to the next phase."

Mr. Annan said Mr. Bush's uncompromising remarks showed that the American administration was engaged in a "psychological game" with Mr. Hussein, one that could be useful in persuading Mr. Hussein to cooperate unconditionally.

"One has to maintain the pressure," Mr. Annan said. "Quite frankly, for four years we were not able to get them to agree that we return to Iraq, but four days after the president's speech to the General Assembly" Iraq agreed to the return of inspectors without conditions.

Still, a number of Security Council members remain concerned that Washington was too eager to find a pretext to go to war.

Mr. Annan said any Security Council decision that finds Baghdad in "material breach" of the resolution must be based on serious or flagrant attempts to obstruct weapons inspectors. Otherwise, he said, it would look like a "flimsy or hasty excuse to go to war."

Such a pretext, he said, would draw opposition not only from Security Council nations, but also from ordinary Americans who have expressed a desire for Mr. Bush to work with the United Nations in confronting Iraq.

Mr. Annan indicated that any event that triggered war would have to show deliberate calculation on Iraq's part. "Whatever reason we decide to use military action to go to war, the circumstances must be seen as reasonable and credible, and not contrived or stretched," he said. "And if we do that, there will be general acceptance and people will understand."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/14/international/middleeast/14ANNA.html?pagewanted=all&position=top