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U.S. Deploys Stealth Bombers, Iraq Urges U.N. to Resist Pressure
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A B-2 Stealth bomber
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UNITED NATIONS, October 31 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Iraq Thursday, October 31, urged the U.N. Security Council to resist U.S. pressure to force through a new tough resolution on disarming Baghdad, as Washington announced the deployment of stealth bombers within striking range of the Gulf region.
Amid mounting pressure on Iraq, a U.S. Air Force commander said Washington will deploy B-2 Stealth bombers closer to the Gulf region to increase the U.S. firepower there, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The Air Force B-2 Bomber Wing began practicing for the deployment to the British Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia and an air base at Fairford in England," said Colonel Doug Raaberg, commander of the 509 Bomb Wing.
U.S. President George W. Bush insists his country will act unilaterally against Iraq if the United Nations does not take firm action to disarm Baghdad and to impose "regime change" in Iraq.
Within the same line, Iraqi Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani said Thursday he was "certain" of a U.S. strike against Iraq, "but it will only take place after Ramadan," the Muslim fasting month which runs from around November 6 to December 5.
"We are against an invasion of Iraq by the American forces," Talabani, who heads the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, told journalists in Tehran.
"But the opposition forces are incapable of overthrowing Saddam Hussein's regime without outside help.
“Foreign countries, the United States and why not Arab or European countries, could help us in getting rid of Saddam Hussein, including with military support," he added.
In Baghdad, meanwhile, Iraq's number two Ezzat Ibrahim stressed that the Iraqi people were ready to fight back against any U.S. attack.
"We do not want war, we want peace. But if the fight is imposed on us by the U.S. administration of evil, we will fight, thanks to the force of our faith and determination," Ibrahim said in a statement carried by the press.
Ath-Thawra newspaper, mouthpiece of the ruling Baath party, said that "Bush denigrates and insults the U.N. and the Security Council."
The U.S. President has been "acting like a new Hitler by adopting the propaganda methods of the Third Reich," it charged.
Government daily Al-Jumhuriya said Bush was "coming out with one stupid remark after another on the U.N. and Security Council."
"It is the duty of the members, permanent and non-permanent, of the U.N. Security Council to reestablish the prestige lost by the Council and the U.N. that America has dragged through the mud by rejecting the new aggressive resolution against Iraq and allowing inspectors to undertake their mission."
Meanwhile, on the international scene, U.S. plans to use military force if necessary to disarm Iraq and bring about "regime change" in Baghdad continued to draw popular protests.
In Britain, peace activists promised to give Prime Minister Tony Blair and his ally Bush a Halloween fright on Thursday by staging anti-war events around the country.
The B-2 Stealth deployment came as U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said members of the Security Council were "narrowing the differences and I think we are getting much closer" to a compromise on a U.S. draft resolution on disarming Iraq.
The U.S. draft would allow for more intrusive inspections than in the past and threaten Iraq with "serious consequences" if it obstructed them.
China, France and Russia, three of the five permanent council members with veto power, oppose wording which they say contains "hidden triggers" for the automatic use of military force against Iraq.
They want it clear that "serious consequences" - diplomatic language for military action - would follow future violations of Iraq's obligations and not punish past breaches.
They also insist that it is for the Security Council, and not for individual states, to determine whether Iraq has failed to cooperate with U.N. arms inspectors and to decide what course of action to follow.
China said Thursday it "noted" U.S. and British efforts to modify their resolution on Iraq, but still refused to specify what action it supported beyond a rapid return of the inspectors.
"The Chinese side has noted that the United States and Britain have made some modifications ... and have addressed some of the concerns of China, Russia, France and other Security Council members," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.
"China will continue to maintain a constructive attitude with other Security Council members on the issue in order to push forward a consensus in the Security Council and enable the U.N. arm inspectors to return as soon as possible to do their work."
Council President Martin Belinga Eboutou of Cameroon told reporters after almost three hours of consultations on Wednesday, October 30, that "we are moving towards something extremely positive."
But Powell told National Public Radio in Washington that "this would break in one way or another," and said it was possible that the negotiations would end with the two sides asking for a vote on rival texts.
"I think this is all going to happen certainly towards the end of next week," he said.
On Wednesday, France distributed a heavily reworked version of the draft in which the warning to Iraq of "serious consequences" was put clearly in the context of a Council debate.
Powell said the United States was not opposed to a debate if the weapons inspectors reported that Iraq had obstructed them, but he insisted that it was free to strike with or without Council authorization.
In Washington, Bush briefly met Wednesday with chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix and International Atomic Energy Agency Director Mohammed el-Baradei, who also held talks with Vice President Richard Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
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