U.S. Bends to France, Russia on U.N. Iraq Resolution

Bush Predicts Unanimous Support in Security Council Vote

In a major push to win international backing before the Group of Eight summit begins, the United States made several last-minute concessions to incorporate French and Russian demands in a proposed United Nations resolution on Iraq. It should win unanimous support in a Security Council vote today, U.N. diplomats and President Bush predicted.

"There were some that said we would never get it," Bush told reporters during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at Sea Island, Ga., the site of the summit. He called the resolution a "catalyst for change" in the Middle East. "If things go well, it will be a unanimous vote," Bush said.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said he also expects "a very satisfactory vote this afternoon" in the U.N. Security Council. "The indication I received from my French and German colleagues is they'll be voting for it as well," he said after meeting the visiting Iraqi interim president, Ghazi Yawar, in Washington.

Powell told reporters he thought the Security Council was "close to unanimity" on the resolution, which was offered by the United States and Britain. He said the international community was "coming together again to support the Iraqi people. . . ." The resolution "makes clear what the role of the coalition force is with respect to the interim Iraqi government, and you'll see that the interim Iraqi government is the sovereign," Powell said.

Yawar, who is representing Iraq at the Group of Eight summit, said his country was "counting on our friends in the U.N. and international community to help us in having our sovereignty," as well as in "preserving law and order until we establish our security forces." He dismissed a question about the prospect of U.S. and Iraqi disagreement on sensitive military operations, saying, "We cannot afford to be pessimistic. We are confident that this cooperation . . . will be very positive and beneficial for the Iraqi nation."

Passage of the resolution would represent a pivotal victory for the Bush administration as it ends a 14-month occupation of Iraq. The Security Council's approval also would be a stark contrast to the divisions and diplomatic disarray at the world body when the United States failed last year to win U.N. backing for a resolution authorizing military intervention in Iraq.

The resolution is critical for Iraq, because it bestows international legitimacy on the new government 22 days before the occupation ends. With the U.N. vote today, U.S. Ambassador John D. Negroponte said, Iraq will soon begin "a new phase in the political history, the full restoration of sovereignty and authority over Iraq's own affairs."

Even France, the most demanding party in the U.N. debate, sounded pleased with the resolution after both major and minor modifications yesterday. "It's much improved. . . . Things are going in the right direction," said French Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere. "We're almost finished."

In a widely backed move, France and Germany had insisted that Baghdad have the right to veto Iraqi participation in "sensitive offensive operations" led by a U.S.-dominated multinational force, which was the final major concession by the United States and Britain, the resolution's co-sponsors.

German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger said the new text reflects French and German concerns. "I think we have reached a stage where the resolution has a very good text," he told reporters in New York. "My feeling is we have found a compromise."

[Germany will vote for the new U.N. resolution endorsing the restoration of Iraq's sovereignty, Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said Tuesday, the Associated Press reported. France had said earlier in the day that it, too, would back the measure in the Security Council. "I welcome the imminent agreement in the Security Council on a new Iraq resolution," Fischer said in a statement. "Germany will vote for the resolution."]

The negotiations were fraught with last-minute scrambling, after several of the 15 Security Council members said the fourth draft introduced yesterday was not good enough, forcing the drafters to go back for further revisions and offer a fifth version late last night.

The new draft also now accommodates a Russian demand for an international conference to support the Iraqi transition and foster stability in the region. Moscow had sought to widen the role of countries not in the U.S.-led coalition.

In response to requests from several Security Council countries, the latest draft incorporates language emphasizing the Iraqi people's right "freely to determine their own political future" -- a modification to address the sensitive issue of how much sovereignty the new Iraqi government will assume when the occupation ends on June 30. In addition, the new draft emphasizes that the goal in Iraq will be "full respect for political and human rights," a request by Chile.