Top weapons inspectors invited back to Baghdad

Facing the growing prospect of a United States-led invasion, Iraq invited the two chief UN weapons inspectors to return to Baghdad for a fresh round of talks on Iraqi disarmament amid diminishing hopes for a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

Also yesterday, Iraqi Cabinet ministers told reporters that an advance five-month food ration had been handed out to Iraqi families as a precaution in case of war.

A senior adviser to President Saddam Hussein wrote to chief UN weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohammed ElBaradei, inviting them to return to Baghdad in advance of a key UN Security Council session on February 14.

The adviser, Amer Al-Saadi, suggested the talks could focus on improving cooperation between the two sides and on "methods of disarmament verification".

Blix, who is in charge of the chemical, biological and missile inspection programmes, would not say whether they would accept, but he repeated that he needs more evidence of disarmament from the Iraqis. He said it was unclear whether any evidence Baghdad might offer in such talks would be enough.

"They must take the questions seriously that were posed in the report," Blix said in New York. "We would like to have responses to those questions."

ElBaradei, head of the UN nuclear agency, was returning to Vienna from New York and was expected to receive his invitation yesterday.

The proposed visit would come four days ahead of their next report to the Security Council on whether Iraq has complied with a council resolution giving inspectors the right to hunt for weapons of mass destruction.

On Monday, Blix told the council that after two months of inspections, he did not believe Iraq had "genuinely" accepted disarmament. Iraqi officials later pledged to make greater efforts to co-operate.

Talk of a war dominated top-level meetings in Washington yesterday as the United States increased pressure on its allies to support efforts to disarm Saddam.

US President George W Bush received Italy's premier, Silvio Berlusconi, who endorses the US hard-line on Iraq. In a White House session, Bush put allies on notice that he will not wait long to act, describing it as "a matter of weeks not months".

British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived in Washington yesterday for talks with Bush that could play a crucial role in the timing of any military strike against Iraq.

The United States and close ally Britain are massing a huge military force in the Gulf as they build up pressure on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to abandon suspected weapons of mass destruction.

During a stop in Madrid on his way to the United States, Blair said it was inevitable Saddam would be disarmed, either peacefully or by force, and he made clear he still put faith in the United Nations to achieve this.

But a letter signed by Blair and seven other European leaders backing the tough US stance in the crisis with Iraq only served to underline divisions within the continent over how to approach Saddam.

European Union heavyweights France and Germany, critics of the US position on Iraq, were not among the signatories and EU president Greece criticised the letter, saying it did not contribute to a common approach on Iraq.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was dismissive of the letter. "There exists a European position (held) by 15, not by eight," he told ZDF television, referring to a declaration by EU foreign ministers on Monday which called on Iraq to co-operate with UN weapons inspectors.

"The rest one must take as the voiced opinion of colleagues who hold the right to state their opinion, as we do."

Although this weekend's Camp David talks have been dubbed by some a "war council", analysts believe Blair will neither endorse immediate military action nor bring Bush back from the brink.

Rather, he is expected broadly to back Bush's hawkish stance against Saddam while also urging caution over timing and further patience for now with the UN approach.

Bush is seeking advice from his closest allies on whether to set a deadline for Iraq to comply with UN disarmament demands.

But Blair told a Madrid news conference it was "not a question of setting some arbitrary time limit. It's a question of making a judgment as to whether Saddam is going to co-operate with the weapons inspectors or not.

"The thing that should determine our military action and the timing of it is the justice of the case and whether the UN process through the inspectors can work," he said.

Bush has said he is willing to launch the big US invasion force now massing in the Gulf without further UN backing.

But Blair made clear his preference for a second UN Security Council resolution authorising force against Iraq.

"If the process of disarmament can't happen through the UN inspectors then it should happen with the full authority and consent of the UN through force," he said.

France, Russia and China, among the five permanent Security Council members with veto power, have voiced reservations about rushing to war. But Blair said he did not believe there would be a situation where Security Council members made "an unreasonable use" of veto power if weapons inspectors certified a breach of the UN resolution.

Blair said the issues of international terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction were linked. "It is only a matter of time before these threats come together in a devastating way," he said.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: Iraq

January 30, 2003:
George Bush's State of the Union speech

January 28, 2003: