Al-Ahram Weekly | Region | Beyond the inspectors' issue

		11 - 17 July 2002 Issue No. 594 Region	Current issue Previous issue Site map
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Beyond the inspectors' issue
As the US steps up its threats against Iraq, Baghdad is making a new gesture of goodwill. Dina Ezzat reports

New threats made by US President George W Bush to overthrow the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein have opened the door for a fresh round of speculation about the potential for a US military move against Iraq.
On Monday, US President George W Bush vowed to use all means available to oust the Iraqi president. "It is a stated policy of this government to have regime change. And, it hasn't changed," Bush said in an unscheduled press conference. "We will use all tools at our disposal to do so", he added.
These threats came against the backdrop of reports leaked to leading US newspapers about the possibility that the US would take military action against Iraq towards the end of the year. Bush's tough talk also came in the wake of the UN-Iraq talks that ended without an agreement on the return of international arms inspectors to Iraq.
Arab diplomatic quarters are reading the new Bush threats as a sign of Washington's impatience over the failure of the third round of UN-Iraq talks. "Obviously, the Americans want to say they will apply pressure towards achieving a more conclusive outcome at the talks than has resulted during the past few months," commented one Arab diplomatic source with respect to Washington's most recent threats.
The Arab diplomatic source said that the inspectors issue aside, US threats to topple one Arab regime or another are inappropriate. "We believe that a change of government, whether in Palestine or Iraq, or any other country in or outside of the Arab world, is something for the people of the concerned country to decide and not for external powers to impose".
Hours before Bush made his remarks, Britain's UN Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock, the current president of the Security Council, said that there is a "sense of impatience" in the council with the results and the pace that the UN-Iraq discussions were taking. These sentiments were echoed in Washington hours after UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Iraqi Foreign Minister Nagi Sabri Al-Hadithi ended their third round of talks in Vienna on Friday without reaching any results on a potential date for the return of inspectors. "We see no basis or need for prolonged discussions of Iraq's obligations," US State Department Spokesman Jo-Anne Prokopowicz said on Friday.
In fact, Washington is preoccupied with exploring other avenues regarding Iraq's future. Tomorrow, a US State department official will attend a meeting in London with 70 former Iraqi military officers to discuss the possible overthrow of Hussein.
This said, Iraqi officials speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly confirmed speculation that talks would resume between Iraq and the UN within a few weeks. While admitting that the talks might not be at the Annan-Al-Hadithi level, the sources did not rule out this possibility. "What was agreed on in Vienna is that there is enough groundwork to permit the resumption of talks. We are currently talking to the UN secretary-general to decide the possible date and venue of talks," one Iraqi official said.
As for a potential agreement on the return of inspectors, Iraqi officials say that Baghdad would accept a package deal that includes permitting entry to inspectors, a gradual lifting of sanctions imposed on Iraq for the past 12 years and an end to the threats made to topple the ruling regime.
Iraq's position is receiving support both within and outside of the Arab world.
"The Arab League still hopes that an understanding will be reached between Iraq and the UN to allow for the return of inspectors and the lifting of sanctions," said Hisham Youssef, official spokesman for the secretary-general of the Arab League.
According to Youssef, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa met with Annan to discuss Iraq in Durban on Monday alongside an African summit. Moussa, his spokesman said, emphasised the need for a continued dialogue between Iraq and the UN as the best way to deal with all issues of concern to both parties.
Speaking to the Weekly on Tuesday, Ambassador Mohssin Khalil, Iraq's permanent representative to the Arab League affirmed that Baghdad is committed to making the dialogue work -- provided that it is conducted away from pressures by the US. "This dialogue is not about negotiating the return of inspectors. It is about much more. It is supposed to deal with many aspects of a 12-year problem, so you should expect it to take a bit of time".
Meanwhile, an Iraqi diplomatic source argued that things are on the right track. He said that in Vienna the Iraqi foreign minister and UN secretary-general agreed on the guidelines for the mechanism of the hand-over of the files taken from the Kuwaiti National Archive during Iraq's 1990 invasion of its neighbour. "Details have to be finalised but it has been agreed that representatives of both the UN and the Arab League will be arriving in Baghdad within the coming few weeks for the hand- over," one source said. He added that all of the files should be returned within a few weeks, saying, "This is a sign of goodwill. We want things to work. We just want them to work in the right way".
According to Iraq, the "right way" entails an agreement that incorporates the language used by Security Council Resolution 687 in relation to respecting Iraq's sovereignty and the lifting of sanctions in accordance with Baghdad's fulfilment of its obligations.

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