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US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday rejected a plan jointly-proposed by France and Germany on how to disarm Iraq through nonmilitary means.
"The issue is not more inspectors. ...The issue is compliance on the part of (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein," Powell said on ABC's Meet the Press" program.
"This idea of more inspectors, or a no-fly zone, or whatever else may be in this proposal that is being developed, is a diversion not a solution," said Powell, who stressed that he had not seen the Franco-German plan.
"It missed the point," Powell said on "Fox News Sunday" program.
He stressed that what is needed is not more inspectors but more cooperation from the Iraqi government on disarmament.
"If they (Iraqis) were doing what they were supposed to be doing, the inspectors that are there would be more than enough," the secretary said.
Although the Franco-German proposal on Iraq is yet made public, German Defense Minister Peter Struck said Sunday that France and Germany hoped that the plan "will be favorably received by the UN Security Council on February 14."
The timing coincides with UN inspectors' second report about Iraq's compliance with UN resolution 1441.
The Franco-German plan reportedly includes initiatives such as sending UN peacekeeping forces into Iraq, increasing the number of UN weapons inspectors, and turning the entire Iraq into a no-fly zone.
(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2003)
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