US-led forces today moved into the demilitarised zone straddling the Iraq-Kuwait border, in preparation for the imminent attack on Iraq, Kuwaiti security sources cited by Reuters said.
Convoys of British and US tanks and fighting vehicles have been snaking through sandstorms in the Kuwaiti desert towards the Iraq border. There are only hours left before the US ultimatum for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to flee reaches its deadline at 0115 GMT early tomorrow, and Baghdad has unequivocally rejected it.
Reuters reported that a US military spokesman had said he could not confirm or deny that troops were now inside the demilitarised zone, but a British army spokesman said that soldiers had taken up ”forward battle positions”.
”Troops walked into the zone this morning at around 11am [0800 GMT],” a Kuwaiti security force source working in the Umm Qasr area in the east of the zone said, Reuters reported. ”American convoys are still driving towards Umm Qasr,” the source added.
The zone extends 5km into Kuwait and 10km into Iraq. United Nations observers pulled out of the area on Monday. Small groups of military engineers had slipped in last week to cut gates in the fence.
The US president, George Bush, has said that President Saddam and his two sons must leave Iraq by early tomorrow Baghdad time or face invasion by some 280 000 US and British forces in the Gulf, mainly in northern Kuwait. The troops are backed by some 1 000 warplanes.
War ‘within 48 hours’
The top US naval commander in the Gulf today told sailors that war on Iraq was ”very likely” within a couple of days, Reuters reported. Vice-Admiral Timothy Keating, commander of the Fifth Fleet, said there might be only a limited element of surprise in the timing, but US forces would make up for that with unprecedented speed.
”We can achieve surprise by going about this particular conflict, if we do it, in a way that is very unpredictable and unprecedented in history — remarkable speed, breathtaking speed, agility, precision and persistence,” he said. ”If we go, the plans that we have are unlike anything anyone has ever seen before. Hopefully it will be quick, (though) we are prepared for it to take however long it takes.”
Meanwhile, the fierce sandstorms in parts of the Kuwaiti desert have cut visibility to just a few, raising concerns they may delay or hamper the impending military action. US commanders have admitted that the timing of any attack may be influenced by the weather.
Saudi’s Saddam exile proposal rejected
Saudi Arabia, an uneasy US ally, has proposed for the first time that President Saddam should go into exile as a last-ditch effort to avert war, a Saudi diplomatic source today, according to Reuters.
”The kingdom, and other parties, are exerting maximum effort to prevent a devastating war and they have proposed the idea of exile for Saddam and securing a safe haven for him and his family,” the source told Reuters. The Iraqi parliament said it was ”unthinkable” for President Saddam to leave the country.
The Iraqi regime flatly rejected the ultimatum, declaring that Iraq did not choose its leaders ”by decree from Washington, London or Tel Aviv”.
UK government rebellion
Blair made an impassioned speech yesterday which failed to stave off the biggest government rebellion in modern times — although it succeeded in containing it to lower numbers than Downing Street would have feared.
A total of 139 Labour MPs backed a rebel amendment calling for more time for weapons inspections, outstripping the 121 Labour backbenchers who voted against the government in the last Iraq debate nearly a month ago.
Blix doubts Iraq will use chemical weapons
The UN has completed the withdrawal of its weapons inspectors and aid workers from the country, bringing down the final curtain on the efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
The chief UN weapons inspector, Hans Blix, has said he does not believe that Iraq will use chemical or biological weapons during a war though it has the ability to produce warheads and the deadly agents to fill them. ”It’s unlikely they will do that because world public opinion, which they study quite a lot,” he said. Blix added that the scepticism about the war ”would turn immediately around if they used chemical weapons or biological weapons”.
However, the Pentagon has said intelligence reports indicate that troops could face a last-ditch chemical weapons assault from Iraq. Pentagon officials in Washington have warned that the Iraqi leader has given field-level commanders the authority to use chemical weapons on their own initiative without further orders from Baghdad. ”We continue to receive reports supporting the assertion that there is a high risk the Iraqi regime would use chemical weapons at some point during any conflict,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.
The UN security council was holding an open meeting today, attended by five foreign ministers, to discuss Blix’s list of key remaining disarmament tasks for Iraq and what the world body can do to provide humanitarian relief when war begins. – Guardian Unlimited Â