By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- Spain is co-sponsoring a new resolution on Iraq because it "believes that the origin of this problem is Saddam Hussein and nobody else" and international pressure may finally convince him to disarm, Spain's chief envoy to the United Nations said February 25.

Ambassador Inocencio Arias of Spain said that despite a competing proposal by France, Germany and Russia he believes that the resolution proposed by the United States, United Kingdom and his government will get the nine votes needed to pass or force a veto by one of the five permanent members of the council.

"We are stating something that you cannot refuse to admit," Arias said at a press conference. "It is a resolution that says this man has not taken the opportunity we gave him 107 days ago. He is not a child. He knows what he's dealing with and that is as true as anything."

"Try to avoid answering it in an affirmative way," the ambassador said about the resolution.

"We are not saying something that isn't true. Who can say that Saddam Hussein is complying with 1441; that he is complying actively and fully?" he asked.

"He was warned if he submits false statements he will again be in material breach. Who can deny he has given incomplete information? He is not giving any information at all about anthrax," Arias said.

"Are you going to vote against something that is quite obvious?" he said.

Saddam Hussein, Arias said, "is throwing at us some information when he feels pressure, when he is cornered he is throwing at us some bone with some beef, and then he keeps us entertained and divided."

With this new resolution "maybe the Iraqi regime will see that we mean business, and then he will put on the table not just some beef but all of what he has," Arias said. "As long as we are divided, he will not."

"If we pass it unanimously, I see it as a very good pressure on Saddam Hussein. Then we will see what he does," the ambassador said.

Arias will be hosting a meeting of representatives of the 10 elected members of the Security Council and U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte February 26 to discuss the new resolution, which was presented by the U.S., U.K. and Spain to the council on February 24. The ten countries currently holding the non-permanent seats are Angola, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Chile, Germany, Guinea, Mexico, Pakistan, Spain, and Syria.

A very short resolution compared to others passed by the council on Iraq, the draft does not mention the use of force or all available means to disarm Iraq in its so-called "operative paragraphs." It recalls that council resolution 1441, passed unanimously in November 2002, declared Iraq had been and remained in material breach of its disarmament obligations and gave Iraq "a final opportunity to comply." Then it says that "determined to secure full compliance with its decisions and to restore international peace and security in the area, acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, [the Security Council] decides that Iraq has failed to take the final opportunity afforded it in resolution 1441."

Chile, another non-permanent member of the council, will be hosting a meeting of the ten non-permanent members as well on February 26 to hear the proposal by France, Germany and Russia for prolonging inspections.

"The origin of this problem is not the United Nations got capricious one day and they started to pass resolutions aiming at Iraq. It is not President Bush. The origin of this problem started 12 years ago" with the invasion of Kuwait, Arias said.

In November through resolution 1441 "the international community says you are going to have this last opportunity and he doesn't take it. So that is the heart of the matter," the ambassador said.

Arias said that he does not believe that a vote for the new draft resolution is a vote for military intervention.

The draft resolution "is more an attempt to find a consensus in the Security Council in order to put serious pressure on Iraq ... not just the pressure of words but the threat of action," he said.

"He could change his mind in one second. And we will gladly take it. Who wants to have a war?" he said.

Regime change "is not my business," Arias added: that is for the Iraqi people to decide.

If the United Nations is incapable of disarming Iraq, it will set a bad precedent for the international organization, the ambassador also said.

"We don't want to admit he is making fun of the United Nations for 12 years. He was given a fantastic opportunity in 1441 to finish with the whole thing -- with the sanctions, with everything, with the suffering of his people -- and he's not taking advantage. And that is a fact," Arias said.

"The United Nations has a big dilemma," he said. "If we dodge our responsibilities then anyone who ... tries to escape the law will get away with it."