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UN / IRAQ WRAP
STORY: UN / IRAQ WRAP
TRT: 3.00
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 15 DECEMBER 2010, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
15 DECEMBER 2010, NEW YORK CITY
2. Various shots, Biden greeting Zebari
3. Wide shot, Biden and Ban sitting down
4. Med shot delegates
5. Various shots, vote
6. SOUND UP (English) Joseph R. Biden, Vice President of the United States:
“I beg your pardon? I’ve got to vote. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten to vote.”
7. Med shot delegates
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Joseph R. Biden, Vice President of the United States:
“In recent years the Iraqi people have emerged from the depths of sectarian violence, and they have flatly, they have flatly rejected the grim future offered by extremists and they have earned themselves a chance for much better days ahead.”
9. Med shot delegates
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Joseph R. Biden, Vice President of the United States:
“As their Foreign Minister can tell you, I jokingly kid that I deserve Iraqi citizenship, I’ve spent so much time there. And I enjoyed every minute.”
11. Med shot delegates
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Joseph R. Biden, Vice President of the United States:
“Iraq’s best days are ahead. As a founding member of the United Nations, Iraq seeks and deserves the opportunity to resume its rightful role in the community of nations. Towards that end, this session formally acknowledges the significant steps Iraq has taken toward fulfilling its obligations to the United Nations incurred in the lead up to the 1990 gulf war.”
13. Med shot, delegates
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General
“Today we recognize how far the country has come in key aspects of its journey to normalize its status in the community of nations. Today the Security Council considers closing several major Chapter VII mandates relating to Iraq, including on weapons of mass destruction and the oil-for-food programme. We all know the difficult history on WMDs in Iraq. A decision to lift the country’s remaining obligations would bring this chapter to an end.”
15. Wide shot, Security Council
16. Wide shot, Zebari walks to the stakeout
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
17. Close up, camera
15 DECEMBER 2010, NEW YORK CITY
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Hoshyar Zebari, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq:
“Today was a momentous day for Iraq, and a happy day. After years being sanctioned by the Security Council resolutions due to the aggression, the belligerence of Saddam’s regime, I think today we closed a chapter, a dark chapter.”
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
19. Close up, reporter’s notepad
15 DECEMBER 2010, NEW YORK CITY
20. Wide shot, Zebari walks away from the stakeout
21. Various shots, Ban meeting Biden
22. Various shots, Ban meeting Zebari
The Security Council today (15 December) ended several United Nations (UN) mandates on Iraq stemming from the 1991 invasion of Kuwait and the 2003 war, including those on weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).
United States Vice-President Joseph R. Biden, who presided over today’s session, told the Council that, in recent years, “the Iraqi people have emerged from the depths of sectarian violence” and have “flatly rejected the grim future offered by extremists.”
He said that they have “earned themselves a chance for much better days ahead.”
Biden, who has travelled to Iraq on a dozen occasions since 2003, quipped that he has “spent so much time there” and that he deserves Iraqi citizenship.
The US Vice-President said that “as a founding member of the United Nations, Iraq seeks and deserves the opportunity to resume its rightful role in the community of nations.”
He noted that today’s session “formally acknowledges the significant steps Iraq has taken toward fulfilling its obligations to the United Nations incurred in the lead up to the 1991 gulf war.”
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his address to the Council said that today’s session shows that the international community has recognised “how far the country has come in key aspects of its journey.”
Citing “the difficult history” on WMDs in Iraq, he hailed the lifting of its remaining obligations on the issue following its pledge to remain free of such weapons, enshrined in its constitution, and its accession to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Biological Weapons Convention, the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.
Saddam Hussein’s WMD activities were one of the reasons given for the United States-led invasion of 2003. None were subsequently found.
Outside the Council Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told reporters that today “was a momentous day for Iraq and a happy day.”
He added that after years of Security Council sanctions “due to the aggression, the belligerence of Saddam’s regime”, a “dark chapter” had been closed.
In one of the resolutions adopted unanimously, the Council terminated measures it imposed on Iraq starting in 1990 after its invasion of Kuwait and subsequent expulsion by US-led forces, including the destruction of all WMD materials. At the same time it urged the country to ratify the additional protocol to the NPT that allows for unannounced spot verification checks.
The Council also unanimously voted to end, by next June, provisions in its Resolution 1483 of 2003 stemming from the earlier oil-for-food programme under which Saddam Hussein was allowed to sell oil for humanitarian goods, despite sanctions imposed on him in a stand-off over inspections of his WMD activities. Under Resolution 1483, proceeds from petroleum and gas exports are deposited into an internationally audited Development Fund for Iraq “until such time as an internationally recognized, representative government of Iraq is properly constituted.”
A third resolution, adopted by 14 votes with one abstention, asked Ban to terminate all residual activities stemming from the internationally supervised oil-for-food programme, first adopted in the Council’s Resolution 986 of 1995, and updated in four subsequent resolutions.
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