(2002-10-18) -- The United States asked the U.N. Security Council today to approve a 'fill in the blank' resolution authorizing military strikes on despotic regimes which possess weapons of mass destruction.

"It's really just a time-saving device," said U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. "We don't want to tie up the Security Council's time with a bunch of resolutions that are basically the same, just aimed at different countries."

Mr. Powell said it would be like an ordinary use-of-force resolution, except the nation's name would be left blank.

"We could go to Kinkos and run off a good supply of these resolutions," said Mr. Powell. "Then we can just fill them in as we need them. You know, 'authorized to attack Iraq, North Korea, Pakistan and any others who threaten regional peace and world security'."

The U.S. request comes after news that North Korea has a nuclear weapons program which Pakistan's chief nuclear expert helped them to develop.

The French delegate said he would prefer two resolutions--one authorizing the use of force on nobody, and the second resolution consisting of nothing but the blank.