The Canadian memo is not available online. However, it reads as follows:

"Ideas on Bridging the Divide"

Purpose: The following draws upon existing ideas in order to establish a defined process for a specific period of time to address the Iraq situation.

Rationale:

*Council division on such a crucial issue could have serious long-term implications for the UN and for international peace and stability.

*Both sides have a point: An open-ended inspection process would relieve the pressure on the Iraqis to disarm. A truncated inspection process would leave doubt that war was a last resort. The focus should be put back upon disarmament, on substance, not on process—e.g., the disposition of the VX gas and precursors, etc.

*The Iraqis should be left in no doubt exactly what is demanded of them on substance, not just on process, i.e., no wiggle room.

*Hence the need for a deadline for substantial cooperation, for example, March 28, which would (1) be near-term enough to keep the pressure on the Iraqis to disarm, (2) nonetheless afford sufficient time for judgments to be made whether the Iraqis were cooperating on substance in disarming and/or providing persuasive and credible evidence that weapons have already been destroyed, as claimed.

*If Iraq persists in evasion, the Council retains the right to act at any point.

*If the March 28 inspection report indicates that the Iraqis have not complied, all necessary means could be used to force them to disarm.

*If Iraq cooperates, an enhanced inspection, verification and monitoring system would be implemented.

Timetable and disarmament requirements:

February 28: Inspectors bring forward their "clusters" report early and present it to the Council, setting out the key remaining disarmament issue-questions. Inspectors present a prioritization with time frames for the Council of key substantive tasks for Iraq to accomplish, including missiles-delivery systems, chemical weapons/precursors, biological weapons/materials and nuclear weapons.

March 7: Inspectors update the Council on Iraqi cooperation on substance.

March 14: Further updates.

March 21: Further updates.

March 28: Final report to the Council by inspectors.

March 31: Meeting of the Council at the ministerial level: If the inspectors have reported substantial Iraqi compliance, a robust ongoing verification and monitoring system, including increased numbers of inspectors/monitors, investigations, etc., would be implemented. If the inspectors have reported continued Iraqi evasion, all necessary means would be used to force them to disarm.