The Hindu : U.S. dismisses Baghdad's offer

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 04, 2002

International

International

U.S. dismisses Baghdad's offer

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

The Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister, Sheik Saud Al-Faisal (left), with the Iranian President, Mohammad Khatami, in Teheran on Saturday. The two nations expressed joint opposition to any U.S. military action against Iraq. — AP

Washington Aug. 3. The Bush administration has brushed aside Iraq's offer to talk about the return of weapons inspectors and has maintained that there is no change in its policy of that Saddam Hussein should be ousted from power.

"Inspection is not the issue, disarmament is, making sure that the Iraqis have no weapons of mass destruction," the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, who is on a trip in South-East Asia said. "We have seen the Iraqis fiddle with the inspection system before... The goal is not inspections for inspection sake," he said.

The President, George W Bush's advisor on West Asia and Persian Gulf issues said the administration remained sceptical about Baghdad's commitment to disarm. "Iraq has not fulfilled that obligation," said Zalmay Khalilzad, a member of the President's National Security Council. He said while there was nothing new in Iraq's latest offer to the United Nations, Washington was not opposed to it. But a White House spokesman said the Iraqi leader must agree to inspections "anytime, anywhere". "It should be a very short discussion," said Sean McCormack.

Meanwhile, at the United Nations, the Iraqi Foreign Minister's letter to the Secretary General, Kofi Annan, met a lukewarm response.

In fact, a spokesman for Mr. Annan said while the Secretary- General welcomed the letter, the procedure spelt out for the return of the inspectors was at "variance" with the Security Council resolution of 1999.

"The resolution says that Iraq must first agree to admit the weapons inspectors. They would conduct on-site inspections for a period of sixty days and then report to the Security Council with a proposed programme of work," Fred Eckhard, said.

Many in the political establishment here believe that Mr. Hussein's offer is nothing more than a game to stall any American military strike against Iraq. The administration has held a tough line on Baghdad with Mr. Bush refusing to rule out a military attack to remove Mr. Hussein from power.

Congress wants the administration to consult it before launching an attack against Iraq. Some also say that the administration should not insist on the return of the weapons inspectors to Iraq.

"It puts off any chance for regime change... Why wouldn't he (Saddam Hussein) let inspectors back in and buy himself a year or two," said Republican Senator Fred Thompson.

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