Russia, France Welcome Iraqi Move, Britain, U.S. Skeptical
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U.N. headquarters building in Baghdad |
LONDON, Aug 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Russia Friday, August 2, 2002, called the Iraqi invitation to the chief UN arms inspector to Baghdad for talks an important step towards resuming inspections. However, Britain and the United States warned the move could be bluffing by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
The Russian foreign ministry hailed the Iraqi announcement as an "important step in the right direction towards resolving the crisis through political and diplomatic means", based on UN Security Council resolutions, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Russia opposes a U.S. military strike on Baghdad, branded by U.S. President George W. Bush as part of an "axis of evil", and wants the country to allow weapons inspectors to return in exchange for a lifting of crippling UN economic sanctions.
On Thursday, Moscow and Beijing called for the UN Security Council to take the lead in settling the dispute over weapons production in Iraq.
China and Russia hold vetoes as permanent members of the Security Council, along with the United States, Britain and France.
For its part, France cautiously welcomed Iraq's invitation to Blix, saying it hoped the offer would help kick start the suspended UN inspection program.
"We support all efforts that might lead to Iraq respecting its obligations towards the United Nations Security Council," said French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marie Masdupuy.
Last week, French President Jacques Chirac urged Iraq to allow weapons inspectors to return, putting further pressure on Saddam.
In London, however, a spokesman for Britain's Foreign Office said, "Saddam has a long history of playing games. As his track record shows, he does not deliver".
In Washington, a senior U.S. State Department official, who asked not to be named, said: "How many times have they written these letters and say 'we'll do this, we'll do that?', AFP reported.
"It's clear what they have to do. It's very much a habit of trying to generate a news spin as if there is something new, some breakthrough."
In a letter delivered Thursday, August 1, 2002, to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Baghdad invited chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix to visit the country for talks that could lead to the resumption of inspections, halted in December 1998.
The move came amid growing speculation that Bush was considering military action to overthrow Saddam, accused by Washington of developing weapons of mass destruction and providing safe haven to terrorists.
The U.S. State Department official said if Iraq were making a genuine offer to break the impasse over its weapons program, "that's good."
"That's what they are required to do by the UN, that's what they agreed to a few years ago, that's what they haven't done, that's what they have played games with over and over again," the official said.
British officials also were not convinced Saddam's efforts were sincere.
"Iraq remains in breach of at least 23 of 27 separate obligations placed on it by the United Nations Security Council," the Foreign Office spokesman said.
"The requirement of Iraq is clear and unchanged: unfettered access for UN weapons inspectors - any time, any place, anywhere."
Britain is Washington's closest military ally, and it is widely believed that Bush would ask for London's help for any military strike.
Last month, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Saddam's efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction posed a "gathering threat".
At the United Nations, a spokesman for the US delegation, which holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council, said the body would discuss but take no decisions on the letter from Baghdad to Blix.
"The United States has not had a change of heart. We are very skeptical," said Richard Grenell. "They have not complied in the past."
The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), which Blix heads and which has never set foot in Iraq, was set up by the UN Security Council on December 17, 1999.
It replaced UNSCOM, the old verification group which, already under a cloud of spying allegations, was withdrawn from Iraq in December 1998 on the eve of a U.S. and British bombing campaign
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Russia, France Welcome Iraqi Move, Britain, U.S. Skeptical
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