Informe de STEVEN R.
WEISMAN en “The New York Times” del
19.09.2003
WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 — The Bush administration, incensed by France's demands for greater United Nations oversight in Iraq, is working to isolate France and win a majority at the United Nations Security Council for the American approach, administration officials said today.
In an echo of a tactic the administration tried earlier this year, without notable success, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell is stepping up his efforts to enlist the support of Russia, Germany and other nations for American control over the occupation and transition to self-rule in Iraq, even though many of them sided with France in opposing the war.
Last winter, in the face of a threat by France to wield its veto power, the United States tried to line up 9 of the 15 Security Council votes to pass a resolution authorizing the use of force to overthrow Saddam Hussein. American officials said that if they had won the votes, France might have abandoned its veto threat.
President Bush then maintained that the United States did not need the resolution to go to war.
The big difference this time is that even French officials say France will not veto a new resolution.
"Powell is upset about the French, but the fact is they are not in a combative mood on this," a senior European diplomat said. "Behind closed doors, the French are saying they would never dream of vetoing. There is no fighting spirit here."
Next week, Mr. Bush will press other nations to back the American approach on Iraq when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly. Mr. Powell is to spend the entire week at the United Nations.
The secretary has pointed out repeatedly that all it takes is nine votes to pass a resolution, and that he is sure he has them.
The French-American rift is over a French proposal for the United Nations to supplant the United States as the leading player overseeing Iraq's transition to democracy as well as a more rapid turnover of sovereignty to Iraqis, perhaps in as little as a month. The administration argues that the Iraqis are not ready.
Today, appearing at Camp David with King Abdullah of Jordan, Mr. Bush said he did not expect to have a draft of a proposed resolution on Iraq until next week. Administration officials have circulated a draft that would keep American control over military forces and the transition to self-rule but are they incorporating some suggestions of other nations.
American officials discussing the strategy of trying to isolate France said it reflected mounting concern among administration officials that in their view, virtually every policy adopted by France in recent months has seemed to try to thwart American policies in Iraq and elsewhere.
"There are just a lot of bad feelings toward the French," an administration official said. "Every time they talk about multilateralism, we know that it's nothing more than a euphemism for constraining the United States."
Earlier this year, the administration was surprised when Russia sided with France over the war resolution. Germany's opposition had been well known. The other surprise was the American failure to enlist African and Latin American nations.
After that diplomatic setback, the administration adopted a policy of punishing France in symbolic ways.
In effect, administration officials say, the policy now is to enlist the Germans in negotiating a possible compromise resolution and to offer Russia a chance to take part in Iraq's reconstruction — as well as get a share of the lucrative contracts to be offered. Mr. Powell has repeatedly praised Russia and Germany for trying to work out a compromise.
A diplomat familiar with administration thinking summarized the American policy as "talk to the Germans, buy off the Russians and isolate the French."
Another was less polite, saying Condoleezza Rice, the White House national security adviser, had characterized the approach as "ignore, reward and punish."
The new administration strategy is unsettling the Germans and the British, European and American officials said. A German official met this week with Ms. Rice and told her that it would be counterproductive to confront France now, an official said.
By all accounts, Germany is trying to be conciliatory, signaling that although it does not want to send troops to Iraq, it is willing to help with reconstruction.
In an Op-Ed piece in The New York Times to be published Friday, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of Germany said there was "no point" in continuing the argument of earlier this year over Iraq, and that Germany would provide relief, economic help for reconstruction and assistance in training Iraqi security forces. But Mr. Schröder, lending some support to the French demands, also said the United Nations had to play "a central role" in Iraq's future. The administration prefers to say it wants the United Nations to play merely a "vital" role, leaving the administration in charge.
In Berlin today, Mr. Schröder met with the French president, Jacques Chirac, in what German officials said was an effort to get Paris to be more conciliatory to Washington. Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain is to meet with Mr. Schröder and Mr. Chirac this weekend, also in an effort to avoid a new confrontation over Iraq at the United Nations.
In comments in recent days, Mr. Powell showed increasing exasperation with the French position, especially over what American officials consider a condescending French view that the United States is in love with being an occupying power. He called the French view "nonsense." In private, he was said to have used somewhat stronger language.
The French response, however, is that France does not enjoy being "the bad kid on the block," as one official put it, but that it is simply trying to make the occupation of Iraq more acceptable to Iraqis and to other nations, which are being asked to supply troops and aid.
"We are not demanding," said a French official. "We are advising. We aren't saying that the United States has to give all the keys to all the ministries to Iraqis tomorrow. But you have to send a political signal that Iraqis represent the sovereignty of their country."
French officials say it almost does not matter whether a resolution passes that suits the Americans or the French. What matters, they say, is whether the resolution leads to greater aid, security and legitimacy for the Iraqi government. This will be decided not at the United Nations, but by the world at large, they say.
But American officials are not in a compromising mood. They assert that if the Iraqis take over too quickly, the beneficiaries will be the former exiles, a group that has the least support among Iraqis.