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To: Galirayo who wrote (12297)	2/22/1998 9:23:00 PM
From: Patrick Slevin	Respond to of 17305

Neat, I could actually use that, as I have "news" turned off on my feeds because it slows the transmission.

To: Galirayo who wrote (12297)	2/22/1998 9:24:00 PM
From: Patrick Slevin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17305

So Peace breaks out in the Middle East. Sort of fouls up the put position I carried over the weekend. However, I believe the response to the news will wind down by lunch and I shall get out with (at worst) a breakeven trade. Futures are currently up about the equivalent of 20 DJIA points and the (I apologize, you will forgive the expression) "Yahoo!" (I have not become accustomed to the PCQuote news yet) story is as follows; ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UN Chief Kofi Annan Set to Sign Deal in Iraq By Alistair Lyon BAGHDAD (Reuters) - United Nations chief Kofi Annan will sign a deal with Iraqi officials on Monday to seal his diplomatic coup over weapons inspections that looked set to defuse the threat of a U.S.-led military strike. "We have a deal," Annan's spokesman Fred Eckhard said after the U.N. secretary-general ended two days of talks in Baghdad with Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz late on Sunday. "It's positive for Iraq and it's positive for the region and in fact for the world." Washington -- which spearheaded the multinational force that ousted Iraq from Kuwait in the 1991 Gulf War and has threatened to bomb Baghdad into compliance in the latest crisis -- was cautious on news of a deal. Annan and Aziz will meet again on Monday morning, but this time to sign a document hammered out after a stand-off over Iraq's failure to allow U.N. teams unrestricted access to sites suspected of hiding biological or chemical weapons. "Call the translators and tell them to be here at 8:00 a.m. (0500 GMT)," one Iraqi official ordered as staff set up seating in a conference room at the foreign ministry. Staff were still typing and copying documents well after midnight to get them ready for Annan and Aziz in the morning. Eckhard gave no details of the accord but said Annan expected it to be acceptable to all 15 U.N. Security Council members when he presents it in New York on Tuesday. Eckhard confirmed Baghdad dropped its previous insistence on a time limit for inspections of eight "presidential sites" -- one of the main hurdles in Annan's talks. Iraq denies it possesses chemical or biological weapons. Annan appeared to have scored a diplomatic coup by persuading President Saddam Hussein to pull back from the brink of a confrontation that could have brought devastation to sanctions-hit Iraq and more instability to the region. Washington said it would welcome any agreement that met its criteria of unfettered access to suspected weapons sites and maintained the integrity of U.N. inspection teams, but was withholding judgment on the deal for the moment. "Obviously we'll need to wait and see the details before making any formal comment," White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said. Most U.S. allies in the Arab world, as well as France, Russia and China, have opposed the use of force. In Britain -- Washington's staunchest ally in the crisis -- Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said he saw "encouraging signs" in the news of Annan's negotiations in Baghdad. "If the result of his talks is to bring Iraq into full compliance with U.N. Security Council resolutions, this will be a most welcome breakthrough," Cook said in a statement. France, which championed efforts for a diplomatic solution, welcomed the deal and voiced hopes it would meet the Security Council's requirements. A U.N. official said on Sunday that any details of a deal would not be made public until Annan had presented it to the Security Council. Before leaving Baghdad at about 1130 GMT on Monday, Annan is scheduled to meet Iraqi officials to discuss a proposed expansion of the deal under which Iraq buys humanitarian goods from the proceeds of U.N.-approved oil sales. Iraq has been subject to crippling international sanctions for its August 1990 invasion of Kuwait, which can only be lifted once U.N. inspectors are satisfied Baghdad possesses no biological or chemical weapons. The Security Council on Friday approved an increase in the value of permitted Iraqi oil sales to $5.256 billion every six months from $2 billion at present. Britain's Cook held out an olive branch on Sunday, saying the sanctions could be dismantled soon if Saddam implemented a satisfactory accord. But Washington emphasized it was not relaxing its preparations for a possible military strike against Iraq. The Pentagon said Defense Secretary William Cohen had asked President Bill Clinton for the authority to call up about 500 National Guard members and Reserve forces. Since November, Washington has assembled two aircraft carriers, 17 combat ships, an amphibious marine force, 356 attack and support aircraft and almost 28,700 military personnel in the Gulf. Senior U.S. officials said on Saturday Clinton had approved a plan -- code named "Desert Thunder" -- that calls for waves of large-scale attacks if Baghdad refuses to let U.N. inspectors do their jobs. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said on Sunday that Washington would pursue its own interests in Iraq if it was unhappy with any deal reached by Annan. In Washington, about 30 protesters hoping for a peaceful solution jeered Clinton and his wife as they left a church service on Sunday afternoon. "Bill Clinton, shame on you," the group chanted as they waved signs saying "Don't bomb Iraq." Iraqi state media were silent on the deal, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported. But as the final Annan-Aziz meeting ended, smiles replaced frowns on the haggard faces of foreign ministry officials. "We're happy, of course we're happy. Thank God for the good news," said one of Aziz's bodyguards with a pistol at his belt. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said the United States would be risking its interests in the Arab and Muslim worlds if it made good on its military threats against Iraq. "Bombing would be risking the stability not only of the region but of the Muslim world," Mubarak told Cable News Network in Cairo. In Jordan, troops sealed off the southern city of Maan, imposing a curfew after two days of violent pro-Iraqi demonstrations. United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Zaid bin Sultan al-Nahayan said Iraq did not pose a threat to its neighbors and rejected as "bad and loathsome" any U.S. military strike. In Moscow, Gennady Zyuganov, the leader of Russia's Communist party, told protesters the United States was behaving like "a drunken sheriff acting as judge, jury and executioner" in threatening to bomb Iraq. ^REUTERS@