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To: Richard D who wrote (27819)	8/15/1998 12:38:00 PM
From: Captain James T. Kirk	Respond to of 95453

U.S. renews threat to use force against Iraq By Patrick Worsnip WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said Friday it remained ready to use force if necessary to counter any threats from Iraq and denied it had told the United Nations to delay arms inspections so as to head off a confrontation. The White House admitted that Washington had discussed the timing of inspections in Iraq with U.N. officials but rejected a report that it had forced the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM) in charge of disarming Iraq to call off a search. The Washington Post reported Friday that the Clinton administration had intervened secretly for months to dissuade U.N. weapons teams from mounting surprise inspections in Iraq, because it wished to avoid a new crisis. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who last month ordered an end to cooperation with the inspectors, of trying to pick a fight with the United States. ''He wants to create a U.S.-Iraq confrontation. This is an issue between Iraq and the United Nations,'' Albright said before meeting Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura. ''But let me make also clear that, if necessary, we will use force on our timetable, in response to threats, at a time and place of our choosing,'' she told reporters. Still, the administration's cautious response to Saddam's latest challenge contrasts with its approach during a previous crisis late last year, when it threatened massive military action to end Iraq's mass destruction weapons programs. Albright said Washington consulted with U.N. weapons inspectors working in Iraq but denied she had given instructions to UNSCOM chairman Richard Butler. ''I do not tell chairman Butler what to do,'' Albright said. She said it was up to him ''where, when and how'' he made his inspections. White House spokesman Mike McCurry said: ''We have been talking with (UNSCOM) about the best way to perform their mission -- timing, outcome, best way to achieve their mission -- but we don't order them not to conduct their mission.'' In New York, UNSCOM denied that Butler had been given ''external direction'' regarding the commission's operations. ''These allegations are false,'' it said in a statement. U.N. sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait cannot be lifted until the Security Council is satisfied that all Iraq's weapons of mass destruction have been destroyed. Iraq insists this has now been achieved and is demanding an end to the embargo. The United Nations says the sanctions will remain until it can verify that all Iraqi nuclear, chemical and biological programs have gone. The Washington Post, quoting U.S. and diplomatic sources, said Albright urged Butler Aug. 4 to rescind orders for his team to mount surprise inspections at sites where intelligence reports suggested there might be banned weapons components. It said that after a further high-level contact with Washington last Friday, Butler canceled a planned special inspection at two sites and ordered his team to leave Baghdad. But UNSCOM said that while all policy decisions on its activities were taken by the U.N. Security Council, ''operational decisions are taken by the executive chairman.'' Butler would ''find it invidious were any attempt made to direct his operational decisions or to micro-manage the day-to-day work of the Special Commission,'' it added. A State Department official, who asked not to be identified, said that the dates of the conversations reported by the Post were correct ''but not the substance or the tone''. National Security sources say U.S. officials decided months ago that if Saddam again halted the inspectors' work, Washington would avoid resorting again to threats of reprisals, and would pass the responsibility to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Asked whether the United States was going to let stand Saddam's latest refusal to cooperate with the inspectors, Defense Department spokesman Ken Bacon said Thursday: ''The question is, is the U.N. going to let it stand?'' --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: Richard D who wrote (27819)	8/15/1998 12:40:00 PM
From: Captain James T. Kirk	Respond to of 95453

Iraq not surprised by U.S. intervention report By Hassan Hafidh BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) - An Iraqi newspaper said Saturday Baghdad was not surprised by a news report alleging that Washington had intervened secretly to dissuade U.N. weapons inspectors from conducting sudden inspections in Iraq. ''The hidden contacts which are being conducted by the American administration officials... with the head of the (U.N.) Special Commission (UNSCOM) and his aides are not new to Iraq,'' the government newspaper al-Jumohouriya said. ''Iraq has issued many warnings and statements which stress that the Special Commission is not neutral and exposed its vicious connection with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA),'' the paper said. The Washington Post said Friday the United States recently tried to delay surprise U.N. inspections to avoid a confrontation with Baghdad. The White House said later on Friday that Washington had discussed the timing of inspections with U.N. officials, but denied that it had forced UNSCOM to call off any searches. UNSCOM also denied that its chairman, Richard Butler, had been given ''external direction'' regarding the commission's operations. ''These allegations are false,'' it said in a statement. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Friday accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of trying to cause a U.S.-Iraq confrontation but said the current standoff was ''an issue between Iraq and the United Nations.'' She told reporters that, ''if necessary, we will use force on our timetable, in response to threats, at a time and place of our choosing.'' Iraq has often accused UNSCOM and Butler of being guided by a hostile American policy -- a policy that Baghdad says seeks to prolong sweeping U.N. sanctions imposed on Iraq for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Jumhouriya called on member states of the Security Council to expose ''such scandals which start to appear in the American media'' and work seriously for lifting the sanctions. But sanctions will not be lifted until UNSCOM, charged with scrapping Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, advises the Security Council that Iraq is free from such arms. Babel, Iraq's most influential newspaper, called on the U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to implement promises he made after signing an accord with Iraq last February. The agreement resolved a crisis between Iraq and the U.N. over inspection of so-called Iraqi presidential sites and it headed off possible U.S. military strikes against Iraq. The paper, owned by President Saddam Hussein's eldest son Uday, called on Annan ''to end the comedy of procrastination followed by Richard Butler,'' whom it described as ''the raven of pessimism.''