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Iraqi ‘Interesting’ Proposals On Lifting UN Sanctions
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Ivanov and Annan |
MOSCOW, April 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – While Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said "interesting proposals" were presented Monday to lift UN sanctions against Baghdad, the U.S. administration denied it agreed on the military strategy needed to topple the Iraqi President.
"Iraq has made a series of proposals which seem interesting to us," Ivanov told journalists after talks in Moscow with Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"These proposals will be studied seriously and we will pursue the dialogue" with Iraq,” added Ivanov, refusing to give any further details.
Russia, a traditional Soviet-era ally of Iraq acting as its main friend on the UN Security Council, is pressing Iraq to allow the return of UN weapons inspectors to pre-empt reported U.S. plans to attack Baghdad.
Sabri is to hold talks on the issue with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York Wednesday.
In Washington, mean while, President George W Bush's administration denied adopting the military strategy needed to topple Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, reported BBC’s online news service.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush had "no plan on his desk" for the removal of the Iraqi leader.
He was speaking after the New York Times reported that an attack involving up to 250,000 troops - is being planned for early next year.
The U.S. newspaper's sources said the other two options of the U.S. administration - supporting a coup by Iraqi opposition forces or using those forces as troops in an attack - had been ruled out as unlikely to work.
However, the report appeared to be flatly contradicted by Fleischer.
He told reporters that Bush still had "multiple contingency plans" for Iraq and was still considering the best option for forcing a new government there.
Senior U.S. congressmen were cautioning against any hasty attacks on Iraq.
Senate Majority leader Democrat Tom Daschle said the situation in Afghanistan has to stabilize first.
"We have to do all that we can to ensure that we succeed [in Afghanistan] before we take on another mission," he said on U.S. television, BBC reported.
The senior Republican senator, Trent Lott, said there was "a lot more we could be doing" to increase opposition to Saddam Hussein, both within and outside Iraq.
In contrast, the New York Times claimed Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld were convinced that American action would do no long-term diplomatic harm in the Middle East because most Arab nations secretly wanted a change of leader in Iraq.
Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Abdullah said at the end of a five-day visit to the U.S. that the Saudis did not want the U.S. to send in troops.
It was up to Iraq to allow UN weapons inspectors to return, he said.
"If Iraq is willing to do that, we must give them the benefit of the doubt," he said.
"We hope the boycott can be raised and the people of Iraq can return to the normal life that they deserve."
Iraq, along with Iran and North Korea, figures in Bush's "axis of evil" for its alleged support for terrorism and attempts to develop nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
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