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Powell: U.S., allies to act on Iraq, with or without U.N.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Secretary of State Colin Powell pushed for U.N. support for a possible war on Iraq Sunday but reaffirmed the U.S. position that the United States and allies will take military action even without U.N. backing. "It is a problem that must be dealt with," Powell told ABC's "This Week." "And if the U.N. finds itself not capable of dealing with it, then the president, with a lot of nations joining in -- we will deal with it." Making the rounds on the Sunday talk shows, Powell said the relevance of the United Nations hinges on its enforcement of Resolution 1441, passed unanimously last November, which requires Iraq to disarm its weapons of mass destruction or prove it already has. Iraq is in "greater material breach" of the resolution every day, Powell told "Fox News Sunday." "I hope that the U.N. will not slip into irrelevance by failing to step up to its responsibilities at this point in history." If the U.N. Security Council does not support military action when it's time to take that step, Powell said, the United States and a willing coalition of other countries will. Powell said Iraq still has the opportunity to avoid war by turning over all documents it has related to weapons, and making all of its scientists and engineers available for interviews. But time is running out before the situation requires force, he said. "If conflict comes, we would hope to do it quickly, we would hope to do it with a minimum of destruction and a minimum loss of civilian life, and we would remove a despotic regime," he told NBC's "Meet the Press." The costs of any war, and the timeline, are unclear, depending on the nature of the conflict and "how quickly we are able to put in place a representative form of government," he said. The government would include three major groups -- the Kurds, Sunnis and Shi'ites, he said. It would not only improve conditions in Iraq, but might also set the stage for a more stable region in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East as a whole. "I hope we would be seen as liberators," he said. "The Iraqi people must be getting tired of living under a dictatorial regime that has used its wealth, the wealth of its people, to develop weapons of mass destruction, to invade neighbors, to threaten the world and to bring this crisis down on the Iraqi people." Asked about reports that France and Germany may propose sending as many as 2,000 U.N. peacekeeping troops to Iraq to assist inspectors, Powell said he had not seen details of the reported plan and couldn't comment directly. But any such plan would not change the intent of Resolution 1441, he said. "What are these blue-helmeted U.N. forces going to do, shoot their way into Iraqi compounds?" Powell said on ABC. "It's the wrong issue," he told NBC. "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." Powell said the Bush administration is waiting to hear what Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, the chief U.N. weapons inspectors, will present in their third report to the U.N. Security Council this Friday. Still, the United States is prepared to present a second resolution declaring Iraq in material breach of 1441, and is currently talking with allies about it. "Those conversations have begun with respect to a second resolution, in light of continued Iraqi noncompliance," Powell told ABC. As he told Fox, "I don't think the next steps should be, 'Let's send in more inspectors to be stiffed by the Iraqis.'"
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