U.S. Expects U.N. to Back Resolution Lifting Iraq Sanctions

 

Thursday  May 8, 2003

(Bush wants Council to act quickly) (470) By Alicia Langley Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- The United States, along with the United Kingdom and Spain, plans to introduce a resolution at the U.N. Security Council May 9 that would lift United Nations sanctions on Iraq, and it is expecting a cooperative response, the White House said. "There's no reason that this current U.N. process should look anything like the last one," White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters May 8, referring to the debate that divided Security Council members over whether to go war in Iraq. Bush, appearing with Spanish President of Government Jose Maria Aznar at the White House May 7, said he sees signs that the international community now wants "to work together for the good of the Iraqi people." "We believe there is a mood to work together to achieve a resolution that will expedite the reconstruction of Iraq," Bush said at their joint news conference. "The kind of atmosphere that existed prior to the war has changed." The new resolution would "lift sanctions on Iraq, phase out the Oil-for-Food program, provide for an appropriate administration to help provide security and rebuild Iraq, and encourage international participation" in that effort, Fleischer said. The White House, he added, hopes for a quick vote, preferably before the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food humanitarian program in Iraq expires June 3. "The president wants the Security Council to act quickly to pass this new resolution; there is no need for a lengthy debate," Fleischer said. "Any disagreement among allies would get in the way of helping the people of Iraq. And we do not anticipate it will look like the last one did. We certainly hope it won't." "This is a different Iraq, and it deserves to be treated differently," Fleischer said. "The Saddam Hussein regime is gone. There is no reason for the people of Iraq to suffer sanctions any longer." "What's important is, the sanctions have to be lifted in order for Iraq to trade freely around the world," he said. "Now that the people of Iraq have been freed, now that the Saddam Hussein regime is gone, " he asked, "why would anybody have any opposition to lifting sanctions on the Iraqi people?" "From the president's point of view, some of these nations that opposed the United States have learned lessons and made mistakes; they don't want to repeat those mistakes," Fleischer told reporters. "And they, too, want to work better with the United States. So we will see what happens when it's put before them." "I think you might be surprised about the prospects for this resolution moving forward in a cooperative fashion," he said.

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