New proposed UN resolution: Prime Minister Blair's plans laid bare

Everyday I decide against writing more on the war and everyday President Bush and Prime Minister Blair compete with each other to seduce me with more food for thought! :)

I doubled over laughing when I ran through Prime Minister Blair's new proposal - in his words "benchmarks", which former National Security Advicer Zbigniew Brzezinski (President Carter's "regime") rightly said "seemed designed not so much for acceptance by President Saddam Hussein of Iraq as rejection, and were intended not so much to avert war as to legitimize the participation of British troops". Lets not for a moment forget that Prime Minister Blair's political survival depends to a large extent on the success of the new resolution.

Consider his "benchmarks":

• President Saddam Hussein should admit on television in Arabic that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and that he will give them up


• Within a week to 10 days of the resolution's passage, Mr. Hussein would have to allow 30 leading Iraqi scientists to go to Cyprus to be interviewed by weapons inspectors


• Remaining chemical and biological weapons would have to be destroyed, and so would all banned missiles


• Iraq would have to account for drone aircraft that American officials fear might be equipped to spray anthrax or biological agents


• Iraq would also have to hand over all mobile production laboratories used for chemical and biological weapons

Quite a list of demands that. Allegations till only yesterday are now set to become demands for confession. Come now Mr. Blair, do you mistake us to be such dunces that we do not see through your ludicrous plans. President Saddam Hussein has already agreed to your 2nd benchmark. Iraq would doubtless agree to benchmark 4 since an "undeclared" drone has already been found - whether the drone contravenes UN conditions (range not to exceed 93 miles among others) is yet to be determined. That leaves us with benchmarks 1, 3 and 5. Should President Saddam Hussein agree to this, it would put him in violation of UN Resolution 1441 which expected the destruction of all WMD and would be strong enough for UN to approve an invasion. Even France, Russia, Germany and China would have no other alternative but to agree. So President Saddam Hussein agreeing to the benchmarks is tantamount to his signing on for an invasion of Iraq. Should he not agree, that would mean an invasion as well. So if your resolution goes through Mr. Blair, then President Saddam Hussein may as well start making his retirement plans, while you can move your plans on how best to relish the spoils of war back from the backburner.

Fortunately common sense prevails. Both France and Russia are threatening to veto any resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq - no doubt leaving the field open for Mr. Jack Straw to yet again go on a personal offensive against Mr. Dominique de Villepin. It is crystal clear that if this war is to be avoided, then the new resolution proposed by Prime Minister Blair has to be vetoed or withdrawn.

Do yourself a favor Mr. Blair - do not put forward the new resolution. You will save yourself the ignominy of defeat, some embarrassment and at the same time save both money and time for the cash-strapped UN (as is UK is one of the main defaulters to the UN, though way behind US which owes nearly two-thirds of all outstanding to the UN). And if Dame Fortune casts her chimerical smile on you, you may still manage to retain some credibility with the British public and stand a chance, however small, of salvaging your political career.