Posted on 03/12/2003 1:40:02 PM PST by prairiebreeze
Britain set out a list of conditions for Iraq's disarmament, hoping to break an impasse at the United Nations (news - web sites) that has left Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) vulnerable at home because of his support for the tough U.S. line. The conditions include a TV appearance by Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) renouncing weapons of mass destruction.
_ President Bush (news - web sites) spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites), Blair and the leaders of Mexico, Chile and Pakistan, all members of the Security Council, the White House said. The Bush administration suggested for the first time that voting against the U.S.-backed Security Council resolution could damage a country's relationship with the United States. The administration also said French President Jacques Chirac was sending "precisely the wrong signal to Baghdad" by threatening to veto the resolution.
_ Asked about the British conditions and an expected new deadline, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Sergey Lavrov told CNN: "We would not be really in favor of considering some artificial dates if they are not coming from inspectors, or accepted by them." Russia also said it will not take part in the "dangerous precedent" of supporting regime change in Iraq.
_ Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio said the U.S.-backed resolution may be withdrawn because of France's threatened veto. A Foreign Ministry official later played down Palacio's remarks, saying she was talking about a hypothetical situation, and declined to say what kind of disarmament deadline Saddam might get if no resolution is voted on.
_ U.S. aircraft dropped 120,000 leaflets over several sites between Baghdad and the southern Iraqi city of Basra. The messages included a warning to the Iraqi military not to use chemical or biological weapons against U.S. or allied troops, according to U.S. Central Command.
_ Iraq displayed a pilotless aircraft that resembled a large model plane with wings apparently made of balsa wood. It said the drone was the one the U.S. claims was designed to deliver chemical and biological weapons.
_ Iraq has opened a training camp for Arab volunteers willing to carry out suicide bombings against U.S. forces in case they invade Iraq, Arab media and Iraqi dissidents said.
_ Soldiers fired shots in the air and police clashed with protesters as they tried to enter the port in Iskenderun, Turkey, where U.S. forces are unloading equipment ahead of a possible war.
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