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Powers Snub U.S. Bid to Strike Iraq as Anti-War Demos Spread
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Mass protests against the war on Iraq, will that convince Bush-Blair to back off
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LONDON, Sept 28 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A U.S.-British diplomatic
drive to win support from key world powers for a snap strike on Iraq faced a
hard sell in Moscow on Saturday after crashing in France, while anti-war
protests gathered steam.
U.S.
State Department official Marc Grossman was to arrive later Saturday in Moscow
in a bid to persuade Russian officials to back a strongly worded United Nations
resolution to disarm Iraq.
The
New York Times reported that Washington's draft of the resolution would give
Iraq just seven days to agree and 23 more days to open up totally to inspections
or face military strikes.
Meanwhile
in London, more than 100,000 protestors were expected to turn out for a
"Don't Attack Iraq" demonstration that organizers hope will be one of
the biggest anti-war marches ever in Europe. The rally was co-sponsored by the
“Stop the War Coalition” and the “Muslim Association of Britain”. They
estimated that roughly 100,000 people participated in the massive event.
Some
1,000 people marched through Sydney on Saturday to oppose Australian involvement
in any military action against Iraq, chanting "no blood for oil".
And
2,000 anti-war protestors gathered Friday outside a Republican fundraiser in
Denver, Colorado, where U.S. President George W. Bush defended himself against
charges of war-mongering.
"I'm
willing to give peace a chance to work. I want the United Nations to work,"
Bush said.
But
he cautioned that if Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein did not disarm on U.S. terms,
Washington would commit troops and do the job.
Clearly
setting the tone for a tough mission for Grossman, the Russian foreign ministry
put out a statement hailing efforts by Iraq and the United Nation to resume arms
inspections.
Russia
"hails both sides' intent to carry out a responsible and constructive
dialogue" and "deems it essential to guarantee that [these talks]
produce substantial results so as to speed up the deployment of inspection units
on Iraqi territory," the ministry said, Agence France-Presse (AFP)
reported.
The
U.N.'s chief arms inspector was to hold talks in Vienna on Monday with Iraqi
officials.
Hans
Blix, chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection
Commission (UNMOVIC), was to reopen negotiations on practical details of
resuming work in Iraq after a gap of four years.
However,
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov on Friday said there was no "clear
proof" to back up U.S. and British claims of a weapons build-up in Iraq.
Key
weapons inspectors have stated that Iraq was “qualitatively” disarmed during
the last weapon’s inspections and that there has been no proof thus far that
rearming has taken place.
Iraq
has been slammed by 12-year-long, U.S.-led economic sanctions that have left
roughly 1.5 million people dead due to starvation, inability to access water and
an embargo on key medical supplies. Over 500,000 of those dead were children
under the age of five.
Delaying
the departure of the U.N. weapons inspectors to Iraq would be an
"unforgivable error", Ivanov said.
And
he added that Russia had received "not one element of proof" to back
up U.S. and British charges that Iraq had ties with the Al-Qae’da network.
Russia
insists that the issue of Iraq should be resolved by political and diplomatic
means.
Grossman,
the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, who is accompanied by a
British envoy, Peter Ricketts, political director at the Foreign Office, had
already met a brick wall in Paris on Friday.
Chinese
Prime Minister Zhu Rongji, speaking in the French capital, warned Washington
against an attack on Iraq, "otherwise, the consequences will be
incalculable."
And
while Zhu urged Iraq to "cooperate unconditionally with the United
Nations," he made it clear he preferred to "respect the sovereignty
and territorial integrity of Iraq".
"If
arms inspections do not take place, if there is not clear proof and if there is
no authorization from the Security Council, there cannot be a military attack on
Iraq," Zhu said after talks with French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre
Raffarin.
Grossman
also held talks in Paris to seek French support for a new U.N. resolution to
force Iraq to disarm.
Bush
himself spoke to his French counterpart by telephone, but Jacques Chirac
remained opposed to any U.N. resolution that provides for the automatic use of
military force if Iraq fails to cooperate with U.N. demands.
France
favored a resolution that was "simple and firm, showing the unity and
determination of the international community" to get weapons inspectors
back into Iraq, according to Chirac's spokeswoman, Catherine Colonna.
As
permanent members of the UN Security Council, France, Russia and China all have
veto power on any U.N. resolution.
In
Baghdad, Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz warned the United States would suffer
huge casualties if Iraq is attacked.
"Iraq
will fight," Aziz vowed.
"The
assault against Iraq will not be a cakewalk for the Americans but a fierce war
during which the United States will suffer losses they have never sustained for
decades," he said.
Aziz
had Friday voiced Iraq's determination to defend itself, but added that Baghdad
no longer possessed missiles with a range long enough to hit Israel.
Israel
has further solidified Arab opposition to the strikes on Iraq after Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated that he would attack Iraq if the Jewish state
was hit.
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