To the editor
In his Feb. 5 presentation to the Security Council of U.S. assertions that Iraq is in "further material breach" of Resolution 1441, Colin Powell warned that "the Security Council must respond effectively and immediately or be irrelevant."
But millions of people whose countries belong to the United Nations are voicing their protest against war with Iraq. Their deeply held longings for global peace and true security are not irrelevant.
Mr. Powell asked point-blank how inspections can possibly overcome what he characterized as Iraq’s ability to deceive and evade the U.N. inspectors.
His strong implication is that no alternative to war is possible, a point of view the Bush Administration has been pushing relentlessly. Iraq has blown its "one last chance," he charged.
But in their dignified responses all but one of the other members of the Security Council stressed that the world must seek, through the United Nations, a peaceful resolution to this conflict.
One after another they urged that all the details of the U.S. evidence be supplied immediately to the U.N. inspectors; that Iraq give the inspectors its full, effective co-operation; that the inspectors be given the time they need to complete their essential task; and above all that a unified, multi-lateral solution be found in the overwhelming interest of world peace.
This is a relevant response to the threat of war.
Zion Road

