Posted on 09/21/2002 9:22:51 AM PDT by tomahawk
Iraq begins imposing conditions on "unconditional return of UN inspectors
Iraq said it would not accept any new conditions on the activities of UN arms inspectors, only six days after agreeing under threat of a US-led strike to their unconditional return.
A government spokesman said Baghdad rules out additional conditions following "press reports that US officials are trying to get the Security Council to issue new, bad resolutions."
"Iraq will not deal with any new resolution that would run counter to what was agreed upon with the UN secretary general," he said, speaking after President Saddam Hussein chaired a leadership meeting.
On Monday, Foreign Minister Naji Sabri gave Secretary General Kofi Annan a letter saying Iraq would allow the unconditional return of UN arms inspectors after a hiatus of nearly four years.
The spokesman, quoted by the official INA news agency, did not spell out Saturday what Iraq considered had been agreed with the UN chief.
But in his letter, Sabri noted that Annan had told the General Assembly the return of the inspectors should be "the indispensable first step" towards "a comprehensive solution that includes the lifting of the sanctions imposed on Iraq" following its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
US President George W. Bush is pressing the Security Council to pass a tough new resolution, to include consequences Iraq would face if it does fully disarm.
Chief arms inspector Hans Blix hopes to send an advance team of UN inspectors to Iraq on October 15.
The Iraqi statement came as Moscow and Washington moved closer in dealing with the crisis after Bush urged Russia to back tougher action against Baghdad.
Bush spoke by telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday before meeting Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov at the White House.
Putin has the support of other key nations worried about US threats of unilateral military action against Saddam without UN backing.
Though Moscow did not subscribe to Washington's hard line, the two former Cold War foes did inch closer, the Russian ministers hinted.
Ivanov praised Bush for "defending the US stance with openness and candour," ITAR-TASS news agency reported.
The two ministers were convinced that Bush "preferred multilateral actions using the UN framework" to any other course, a reassurance very important for Moscow, he said.
He stressed the importance of unity, which had "forced Baghdad to quickly and unconditionally agree to allow the UN inspectors to return."
Russia might soften its vehement opposition to tougher pressure on Iraq, the defense minister suggested, admitting that the resumption of inspections was no bar to a new Security Council resolution "harsher than any previous one."
Powell also met the ministers.
"I think they are open to hear our arguments and we're open to hear their arguments, and so the split that has been much spoken about earlier this week I don't think is quite the split that people have portrayed," he said.
His Russian counterpart indignantly dismissed reports of a cooling in Russian-US relations.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Saddam was determined to flout UN authority, and accused Iraq of a "blatant untruth" in declaring it did not have weapons of mass destruction.
Iraq has "reinforced the need for the UN Security Council to insist on intrusive inspections with an urgent timetable," Straw said.
France and China, the two other Security Council permanent members, have also stated their intentions.
China's Premier Zhu Rongji said Beijing was not prepared to see the United States launch military action without Security Council endorsement.
And in Paris, a presidential spokeswoman said a new UN resolution was not indispensable, but could be a useful means of pressuring Iraq.
Meanwhile, Germany, normally one of Washington's main allies in Europe, came under US fire just ahead of Sunday's federal elections.
US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said US-German relations were under strain, due in part to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's criticism of Bush's policy on Iraq.
She also lashed German Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin's reported comments comparing Bush's foreign policy to Adolf Hitler's.
Germany has ruled out taking part in a strike on Iraq even if there were a UN mandate for it.
As the Iraqi media continued to fulminate against Bush, dubbed a "raging bull" by one paper Saturday, the commander of US troops in the Gulf said they were "prepared" for a possible military offensive against Iraq, though Bush had still not made a decision to go to war.
"We are prepared to do whatever we are asked to do," General Tommy Franks told reporters in Kuwait.
Is it vassal or vessel?
There are some friends of mine - from the South - that regret he was not hung during the Civil War for his treatment of captured Confederates.
Semper Fi
I don't think we're going to see a deadline/ultimatum. The administration wants the commencement time of this operation to be somewhat of a surprise. It'll be totally different in character than Desert Storm.
Yep, the Krauts have yet to figure out that they're the awkward .188 hitter with the league-minimum contract warming the end of the bench.
Repeat as often as necessary!
Frequent flyer miles will be doubled for evening and night time flights, as usual.
This is similar to the recent viewing flyover tours of Afghanistan.
A good time was had by all!
I'm about to have lunch, so I hope not.
Baghdad could use a little purification.
Mid-Oct is the full moon, and thus we'd be fighting in a very bright evening sky, which wouldn't play to our distinct night-fighting advantages. The best time to start would be 3 or 4 days before a new moon -- The new moon in Oct and Nov is around the 5th or 6th of each month.
What planet have you been on?
The unconditional surrender became an established historical fact in 1992. There is no need to revisit that.
Why it was not implemented for 10 years is a whole other story.
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