UNITED
NATIONS - US Ambassador John D. Negroponte's statement
that there was nothing new in the Iraqi invitation
to the UN to send arms inspectors back to Baghdad
for talks seems to be about right, in light of
the latest bizarre development in the long and
bitter struggle between the brutal dictator Saddam
Hussein and the international community.
Hans
Blix, the Swedish official who heads up the UN monitoring
and verification commission that succeeded the group
of inspectors led by Australia's Richard Butler,
just got a tongue lashing from Naji Sabri, the Iraqi
foreign minister who issued the offer to commission
representatives to hold talks on the outstanding
disarmament issues.
The Iraqis repeatedly
accused Butler of spying
for the US. Now Sabri
makes a similar charge
against Blix, a highly
regarded diplomat who
used to run the International
Atomic Energy Agency.
In
an interview with
the United Arab Emirates
newspaper al Bayan,
Sabri also stated that
the offer to UN inspectors
was not, as was thought,
extended to Blix but
only to a "technical
team."
Negroponte,
who has made clear
that the
US wants Secretary
General Kofi Annan
to reject the Iraqi
offer, spoke of "gamesmanship" in
Baghdad -- which this
latest twist tends
to confirm. Blix had
given in to US pressure
and "blackmail," Sabri
charged.
The commission chief
had inherited Butler's
alleged role as a US
spy and superseded
the authority of both
the Security Council
and the Secretary General,
he said.
Referring
to last week's letter
containing
the invitation to Baghdad,
Sabri said this was
not addressed to Blix, "but
to the technical team
which has taken part
in negotiations in
New York and Vienna" --
meetings with Iraqi
officials conducted
by Annan, but with
little or no progress
recorded. Blix was
a key adviser in those
talks, which makes
Sabri's latest blast
in the press interview
more difficult to understand.
Present
indications are that
UN weapons
inspectors will not
be returning to Baghdad
any time soon -- they
were thrown out in
December 1998 -- although
Annan said after conferring
with Security Council
members Monday that
some felt the UN ought
to go "the last
mile" to resolve
the issue. Russia,
France and China are
thought to be the most
accommodating members
among the five permanent
members; Britain's
Prime Minister Tony
Blair, while basically
supportive of the US,
has to contend with
peaceniks in the Labor
camp who fear a Gulf
war rerun.
Will the US take up
arms to oust Saddam?
If so, when? Speculation
mounts by the day,
but President Bush
appears not to have
made up his mind and
the debate among the
administration's hawks
and its doves continues,
to the accompaniment
of daily press leaks
as each side seeks
a public opinion advantage.
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