The Hindu : U.N. team to meet Saddam

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 09, 2003

International

International

U.N. team to meet Saddam

By Atul Aneja

MANAMA (BAHRAIN) Feb. 8. The top United Nations weapons inspectors, Hans Blix and Mohammad ElBaradei, arrived in Baghdad on Saturday, seeking Iraq's "active" cooperation in finding and eliminating its mass destruction weapons.

The two officials, soon after arrival, met the Iraqi Presidential Adviser, Amer al-Saadi, and the head of the Iraq's arms monitoring body, Hussam Mohammad Amin. Expressing cautious optimism, Mr. Blix said he was "hopeful" about the outcome of the talks, while Mr. ElBaradei said the visit of the two inspectors was not the "last chance" to avert a possible war. "This is an important chance but not the last. There will be other chances", he said.

In an apparent show of support for the Iraqi President, thousands of demonstrators gathered in the Iraqi city of Tikrit, a well-known stronghold of Saddam Hussein. Mr. ElBaradei said the two lead inspectors could meet Mr. Hussein during their two-day visit. Mr. Blix, prior to his arrival in Baghdad, had said that Iraq must cooperate not in procedure but in substance. He pointed out that Iraq must take "drastic measures" if it wants to avert war.

Mr. Blix, however, welcomed Iraq's decision to allow its scientists to be privately interviewed by the inspections team. Four scientists have already been interviewed since Thursday and it is possible that similar interaction takes place in the coming days. Baghdad's reluctance to allow private interviews of its scientists had become a source of friction with the inspection team as well as the United Nations Security Council.

Britain's permanent representative at the U.N., Jeremy Greenstock, has indicated that Iraq is likely to allow U.N. flights of the U2 spy planes, which the inspectors have demanded. An Iraqi legislation to outlaw development of banned weapons inside Iraq is also on the cards.

Meanwhile, U.S. preparations for a war with Iraq continued unabated. The U.S. State Department has ordered non-essential diplomats and families to leave Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Israel. The U.S. consular office at the Polish embassy in Baghdad has also been closed down. Five U.S. aircraft carriers are likely to be soon within Iraq's striking distance. The carrier Abraham Lincoln is on its way to join the Constellation in the Persian Gulf. The deployment of the Kitty Hawk in this area has also been ordered. The Theodore Roosevelt is linking up with the warship Harry S. Truman, which is already in the Mediterranean Sea.

The British aircraft carrier Ark Royal is reportedly close to the Suez Canal. Nearly 150,000 U.S. troops are expected to be deployed in Iraq's proximity by February 14, the day when the U.N. inspectors submit their crucial report to the Security Council. The U.S., however, is yet to tie up the loose ends that would allow it to open up a northern front against Iraq.

The U.S. President, George W. Bush's special adviser, Zalmay Khalilzad, is in Ankara to reconcile differences between its two allies — the Turkish Government and the ethnic Kurds residing in northern Iraq over the status of the oil cities of Mosul and Kirkuk. The Kurds fear that Turkey, which has already indicated its intent to enter northern Iraq, can occupy these cities.

Mr. Khalilzad has sought to assuage Kurdish concerns by declaring on Friday that all armed forces in northern Iraq would fall under the overall command of the coalition forces.

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