UN pessimistic about Iraqi attitude

UNITED NATIONS - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has not given an inch on the return of United Nations weapons inspectors to Baghdad, says UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"I don't see any change in attitude," Annan said.

The Iraqi leader, speaking on Thursday in Baghdad on the anniversary of the end of the 1980-88 war with Iran, sought an "equitable dialogue" with the United Nations. He repeated demands that the UN reply to 19 questions given to Annan last March during talks on the inspectors, who have been out of Iraq for nearly four years.

Baghdad's Foreign Minister, Naji Sabri, in the first round of talks with Annan on arms inspectors in March, asked several political and technical questions, including ones about the US threats to topple Saddam and the no-fly zones imposed by Britain and the US over northern and southern Iraq. The UN Security Council did not give Annan any answers to them.

"I think the President's statement, insisting on answers to the 19 questions, doesn't show any flexibility from their previous position," Annan said.

He said there was no cause for optimism, "not unless there are unforeseen developments".

"At this stage it seems as if they are not giving an inch, but I think we are at early stages yet," he said later.

Sabri last week invited chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix to Iraq for talks to analyse suspected weapons of mass destruction. But Annan said UN procedures allowed for such discussions only after the inspectors were back on the ground. The arms inspectors left Iraq in December 1998, hours before a US-British bombing raid, and have not been allowed to return.

In his speech Saddam made no new offers on letting arms inspectors back. The UN will not suspend the sanctions imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait until it is satisfied that Baghdad has eliminated dangerous weapons.

The United States Administration dismissed Saddam's warning that any military force that attacked Iraq would "die in disgraceful failure".

A White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said Saddam's speech did not alter President Bush's view of Iraq.

"The Iraqi Government needs to comply with the responsibilities it agreed to at the end of the Gulf War," he said. "The President has not decided on a particular course of action. We will consult with our friends and allies, as well as Congress."

Leaders of several Iraqi opposition groups are in Washington and scheduled to meet senior US officials at the Pentagon and State Department today, offering their ideas for getting rid of Saddam. They include the head of the Iraqi National Congress, Ahmed Chalabi, and Kurdish groups. The INC describes itself as the umbrella group for the Iraqi opposition and has received millions of dollars in US assistance.

A senior Pentagon adviser writing in Britain's Daily Telegraph said Bush is prepared to mount a unilateral attack on Iraq if necessary, but expects support from British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

But the Independent reported that Britain has strongly advised the United States against attacking Iraq, warning that such action would intensify other conflicts.

The newspaper said British ministers and Government officials had warned that launching a war to topple Saddam would "contaminate" crises in Afghanistan, Israel and Kashmir.

In Berlin, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said that Iraqi offers of talks on resuming weapons inspections "must be checked for their seriousness", maintaining his opposition to an attack on Iraq in the face of pre-election criticism in Germany.

Schroeder has warned in recent days that an attack could wreck the international anti-terror coalition and cause turmoil across the Middle East.

In Canberra, former opposition leader Kim Beazley said yesterday that Australia would be involved in a United States attack on Iraq through communications and spy bases, even if no troops were involved.

However, Beazley said he had no sense that a US attack was inevitable.

Beazley said there would be an inevitable Australian involvement if conflict occurred.

"The Navy is there," he said "But even prior to that there is the Pine Gap facility which would be engaged as it was in the last war over Kuwait, and there is of course the communications facility now under Australian control. At an absolute minimum they would be engaged."

- REUTERS

Feature: Iraq

UNSCOM

Iraq Action Coalition (against Iraq sanctions

Arab net - Iraq resources

Iraq Oil-for-Food programme

Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq