The PRESIDENTt It LB my understanding that the Security Council is ready 6~ proceed to the vote m the draft resolution before it. Xf I hear no objection, r shall take it that that is the case. There being no objection, it ie 50 decided. I shall first call on those members of the Council who wish to make etatenmts befae the voting. SKS/ed s/&v. 2933 16 Mr. PICKERING (United Statea oE Anrer ica) : My Government has joined nine other countries in sponsoring the draft resolution before us taday. The draft resolution irr in response to Iraq’s blatant aggression against Kuwait, a sovereign State Member of the United Nations, and Iraa’s lmacceptable failure to comply with resolution 660 (19901, a mndatory resoluti - which is binding on all Member States. By his actions, Saddam Hussein has plunged into crisis the strategically critical area of the Persian Gulf. Thirty par cent of the region’s oil production is now under Iraqi control, thba threatening international economic health and stability. We have just heard a startling statemnt on the part of the representative of Iraq. He announced that Iraq was going to start withdrawal on S August. Even if that were true, it would be a startling stateepent. Resolution 666 (1999) asked for inumdiate and unwndi tional withdrawal. He hss just told u9 that Iraq muaged to withdraw 27 vehicles yesterday of all tie hundreds and thousands of vehicles that took part in the Iraqi invasion. If 27 vehicles a day is the pace, it would take 46 days just for the first thousand vehicles t;o be withdrawn. This is not what the Council haa aeked, it is not what the world &oande. And the idea that this CoM~il ha8 s-ha becoPle the United States foreign mtnistry is an insult to the 
**Analysis**
The text appears to be a speech or statement made by a representative of the United States to the United Nations Security Council, discussing a draft resolution related to Iraq's aggression against Kuwait. The speech focuses on the political and economic implications of the conflict, particularly the threat to international economic health and stability due to the control of oil production in the Persian Gulf. The speaker also references previous resolutions and the pace of Iraqi withdrawal.

**Category**
International trade, Humanitarian aid and relief