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- As US and British diplomats fanned out across the globe
yesterday in an effort to ram their toughly worded resolution on Iraq through
the United Nations Security Council, the Iraqis appeared, for the first
time, to be resigned to the likelihood of war.
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- Envoys were spread from Paris to Moscow and from Ankara
to Beijing to urge support for an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein that the
Iraqis have said they cannot accept.
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- But while the French, the Russians and the Chinese all
seemed determined to give UN weapons inspections a real chance before giving
the green light to a US invasion, the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq
Aziz, said: "I hope the Security Council will be strong enough and
fair enough to resist American pressure. But I am not confident about the
capability of the UN to resist American pressure and American manipulation."
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- Mr Aziz's tone was different from the defiance he expressed
just a day earlier, when he said it was out of the question for Iraq to
accept more stringent conditions for weapons inspections than those already
put in place by the UN. That refusal became the focus of international
discussions yesterday, and it remained to be seen whether the Iraqi position
would further divide the permanent members of the UN Security Council,
or tip the balance against Baghdad.
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- President George Bush and Tony Blair are believed to
be seeking a very short time-frame for Iraq to give details of its weapons
programmes, to be followed by full verification by inspectors granted access
to everywhere including President Saddam's private residences, which have
previously been off-limits.
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- A fatalistic Mr Aziz accused the Americans of doing everything
to prevent the weapons inspectors from returning to Iraq to maximise the
justification for war. "If the inspectors declare that Iraq is free
of weapons of mass destruction, which is the case, and we are sure of that,
what is George Bush going to do?" he asked.
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- "We cannot boast we can break the US army,"
Mr Aziz added. "But we shall defend our homeland, it is our responsibility
and we are prepared for it.... Our people will fully support us and play
their part in the struggle that lies ahead."
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- Baghdad is pinning its remaining hopes on talks in Vienna
today between its officials and Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector.
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- Mr Blix has been promised an up-to-date list of equipment
and materials which have both civilian and military uses and how they are
deployed, for the first time since the monitors pulled out in 1998.
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- The tough US and British line has prompted misgivings
domestically. Yesterday three US congressmen visiting Iraq, all Democrats,
insisted that weapons inspections had to be given a chance and that the
Iraqis seemed inclined to co-operate.
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- While the congressmen spoke, from Basra, US and British
warplanes attacked that city's airport and were reported to have knocked
out its radar. This appeared designed to turn up the pressure on Iraq.
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- http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=337981
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