/ 15 September 2002

Pressure piles up on Iraq

US President George Bush has urged the United Nations to show ”backbone” in disarming Iraq or leave him to ”deal with the problem”, but Baghdad remains unmoved, saying it is prepared for the worst.

”Enough is enough,” Bush said on Saturday. ”The UN will either be able to function as a peacekeeping body as we head into the 21st century, or it will be irrelevant. And that’s what we’re about to find out.”

”This is a chance for the United Nations to show some backbone and resolve as we confront the true challenges of the 21st century, a chance for the United Nations to show its relevance,” Bush said at the Camp David presidential retreat.

”But make no mistake about it, if we have to deal with the problem, we’ll deal with it.” He alleged that Iraq has defied the United Nations 16 times.

”By supporting terrorist groups, repressing its own people and pursuing weapons of mass destruction in defiance of a decade of UN resolutions, (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein’s regime has proven itself a grave and gathering danger,” Bush said.

Iraq hit back, accusing Bush of shame-faced lying to win international support for an early attack.

”We are preparing for the worst, to resist the attack and to protect ourselves and our people,” Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said on Saturday night.

Aziz denied once again that Iraq possessed or sought to develop weapons of mass destruction as Bush charges and in turn accused Washington of ”using any excuse” to start a war to seize Iraqi oil and ”redraw the map of the region”.

The message to Baghdad from Washington and London, which seek to oust the regime, was, Aziz said, ”You are condemned whatever you do.”

Iraq’s ruling Baath Party newspaper on Sunday branded Bush a ”liar, son of a liar”, as the fury in Baghdad over a US war ultimatum raged on.

”This is not an insult, just the truth,” said Ath-Thawra. ”His deceitful speech was full of lies,” it said, referring to Bush’s address on Thursday to the UN general assembly.

”He clearly expressed the arrogance of his administration and his bellicose side which the world rejects and condemns,” the daily said, echoing the tone of Iraq’s all-official media.

Bush had called on the security council to vote a speedy new resolution to force Iraq to disarm, otherwise the United States would take unilateral action.

US Vice President Dick Cheney said he saw international support building for a US-led move to oust Saddam.

”There are going to be a lot of countries that will say, ‘Look, the US is serious, President Bush is serious about this, and we basically want to sign on and support that effort,”’ Cheney told CNN.

And he warned that Baghdad’s acceptance of arms inspections may not be enough to satisfy the United States.

”It’s not … going to be enough here to simply invite

inspectors back in and say, ‘There, the problem is solved,”’ he said.

Arab League foreign ministers sent a ”unanimous” appeal to Iraq on Saturday to let the inspectors in, secretary general Amr Mussa said in New York.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmud Hammud, whose country currently chairs the Arab League, said, ”We want Iraq to implement the Security Council resolutions which will end the current crisis.”

Hammud told the London-based Arabic daily Ash-Sharq al-Awsat that ”the return of inspectors is the first step” to avert a showdown.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher also told journalists, ”What we want is the return of inspectors, and we have appealed to Iraq to accept their return in order to achieve peace and security for the Iraqi people and its neighbours,” the paper said.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has announced that he will tour the Middle East next week to gather support for an initiative to persuade Iraq to allow back weapons inspectors and avoid a war.

However Iraq insists the return of inspectors must be tied to the lifting of the UN sanctions in force since 1990.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal meanwhile said on Sunday that Riyadh would cooperate in a US-led attack if the Security Council gives the green light.

The Saudis have insisted in the past they would not allow their territory to be used in the case of an attack mounted by Washington alone.

”If the United Nations takes a decision, by the Security Council, to implement a policy of the UN, every country that has signed the charter of the UN has to fulfil it,” Prince Saud said in an interview with CNN.

Prince Saud was optimistic the deadlock could be resolved, hailing Bush’s decision to push for action against Baghdad by the UN first before going it alone. ”I think we are moving in the right direction,” he said.

In another interview, with the daily al-Hayat, he urged Iraq to agree to weapons inspections to spare its people a war which risks breaking up the country.

”Since Iraq says it does not possess weapons of mass destruction and has no plans to produce any, why doesn’t it agree to the return of inspectors to settle the issue which will go to Security Council,” the prince said.

However, if Baghdad refused to allow inspections ”we fear that the suffering of the Iraqi people will worsen and we will be worried about the unity, independence and stability of Iraq,” Saud warned.

Meanwhile, Britain’s Sunday Telegraph said London’s dossier against Iraq will contain the first definite evidence that Saddam’s regime trained some of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida lieutenants.

The report said the dossier also contains information relating to the manufacture of chemical and biological weapons in and around Baghdad and Saddam’s bid to produce nuclear arms.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair will release the dossier on September 24. – Sapa-AFP