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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ed Huang who wrote (62960)	12/23/2002 6:57:13 PM
From: Ed Huang	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Let CIA check for arms, Iraq says Baghdad hopes co-operative talk will head off war PETER BAKER SPECIAL TO THE STAR BAGHDAD—Iraq pronounced itself "ready to deal" with outstanding questions about its arms programs yesterday, agreeing to allow scientists to be interviewed here without government officials present and even inviting CIA agents to visit suspected weapons sites. Iraq, however, still would not commit to permitting scientists to be taken abroad for interviews, as the United States has demanded, and said it would supply no more documents to fill in the "gaps" found by U.N. inspectors in a 12,000-page declaration about its weapons programs submitted this month. "We don't have any more," Gen. Amir Saadi, a top adviser to President Saddam Hussein, said. "We don't have any more documentation. But we are ready ... to work and co-operate with (the inspectors)." "We do not even have any objection if the CIA sent somebody with the inspectors to show them the suspected sites." The statements marked Iraq's most extensive response yet to the Bush administration's declaration last week that Iraq is in "material breach" of U.N. resolutions for failing to fully disclose its programs to develop weapons of mass destruction. Saadi denounced what he called American "lies and baseless allegations" and called for the inspectors to work without pressure from the U.S. The pronouncement also underscored Iraq's strategy to head off war with U.S. forces gathering in the Persian Gulf. While standing by its assertion that it possesses no chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, Iraq has embraced the U.N. inspection process in an effort to undercut the credibility of American claims and isolate the U.S. from would-be coalition partners around the world. In contrast to the 1990s, when Iraqi officials routinely obstructed and denounced U.N. inspectors as dupes and spies, Saddam's aides have opened all doors and praised this latest round of examiners, even contending their work has confirmed the Iraqi position. The Iraqi officials have all but ignored criticism by the chief inspector, Hans Blix, that their declaration was incomplete, and instead have portrayed the U.N. team as an ally against reckless U.S. warmongering. Iraq continued to woo its Arab neighbours yesterday by making another gesture to Kuwait, the tiny emirate it invaded in 1990, setting off the Gulf War. Iraq returned a load of stolen paintings, carpets and other items owned by the Kuwaiti royal family during a meeting at a border post. Saddam last month apologized to Kuwait for the invasion and has agreed to renew long-frozen talks next month on the fate of Kuwaitis who went missing during the occupation. So far, though, the strategy has met with limited success. Even Saddam seemed frustrated that Iraq has not been able to rally international opinion against the United States. "We have told the world we are not producing these kind of weapons, but it seems that the world is drugged, absent or in a weak position," he told a delegation from Belarus, according to an Iraqi news agency. The latest manoeuvring came as most of the international nuclear inspectors left the country after nearly wrapping up the first stage of their work. Chemical and biological inspectors remained in Iraq. A U.N. official reported the International Atomic Energy Agency took air, soil and water samples from 27 sites over the past three weeks and is awaiting results to determine whether there's any indication Iraq has continued work to develop a nuclear bomb. Saadi ridiculed some of the assertions U.S. officials made last week as "rehashed allegations" from long-ago reports by U.N. inspectors. He acknowledged Iraq tried to procure crude uranium oxide known as "yellow cake" in the mid-1980s but said no further purchases were made. He said Iraq developed VX nerve agent in 1990, but said the program was abandoned. WASHINGTON POST thestar.ca