- BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A defiant
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on Monday declared his country ready for
war and issued his first public criticism of U.N. weapons inspectors, accusing
them of spying.
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- In a 25-minute televised Army Day message, Saddam dismissed
U.S. threats to disarm Iraq as "clamor, commotion and hysteria"
to divert attention from U.S. domestic and foreign policy failures, and
the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
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- "As we monitor the hiss of snakes and bark of dogs
accompanied by continued aggression in the north and south of the country,
we act with the confidence of the assured whose actions are not hurried
or confused," he said.
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- "Here, we have prepared for everything."
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- Shortly after the Iraqi leader spoke, U.S. Army officials
told Reuters the military had alerted more than 10,000 part-time troops
to prepare for active duty and possible movement overseas as early as this
week to support the U.S. build-up near Iraq.
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- The alert came as a U.S. Navy hospital ship headed to
the region to handle casualties in the event of a war.
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- But Britain, Washington's staunchest ally on Iraq, said
war with Baghdad was far from a foregone conclusion and less likely than
many commentators implied.
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- "There has been so much talk in the newspapers about
war, suggestions that the chance of war are 100 percent, that it's important
to try and correct that impression," British Foreign Secretary Jack
Straw told BBC Radio.
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- "What is important for people to understand is that
war is not inevitable."
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- MARKETS ON EDGE
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- The prospect of conflict in the Gulf kept world markets
on edge. Safe haven gold hit its highest level in almost six years, oil
hovered near a two-year peak and the dollar dipped.
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- It has also unnerved U.S. allies in the region. Turkish
Prime Minister Abdullah Gul wrapped up a three-country tour of the Middle
East in Amman to discuss with Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu al-Ragheb
the potential economic and political impact of a war.
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- Gul said: "The consequences of war will be disastrous."
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- As tens of thousands of troops massed in the Gulf and
both sides dug in for possible confrontation, U.N. inspectors once again
fanned out on Monday to verify Iraq's claim it has no nuclear, biological
or chemical weapons.
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- One day after searching a record 16 locations, they visited
four sites, including a pesticide factory thought to have been linked to
VX gas and Iraq's main nuclear program facility.
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- Iraq has cooperated but some officials have rebuked inspectors
for aggressive and intrusive methods.
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- During an address commemorating the founding of the Iraqi
army in 1921, Saddam issued his first public criticism of the U.N. teams.
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- He said rather than searching for weapons of mass destruction,
the inspectors were instead compiling lists of Iraqi scientists, asking
workers misleading questions, and gathering information about "legitimate
military production... These things, or most of them, are pure intelligence
work."
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- INTERIM REPORT DUE
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- The entire U.N. inspection regime has been revamped to
avoid such charges since U.N. teams left Iraq in 1998 ahead of a U.S.-British
bombing campaign. Iraq had charged that the United States used previous
U.N. arms teams to spy on the Baghdad government.
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- Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix and International
Atomic Energy Agency Director Mohamed ElBaradei are to present an interim
report on inspections to the Security Council on Thursday, with a comprehensive
report due on January 27.
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- Any indication Iraq has concealed weapons could trigger
a U.S.-led war to disarm the country and oust its president.
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- Hungary said a first group of U.S. military personnel
had arrived at Taszar air base to prepare a training camp for up to 3,000
Iraqi exiles who would act as interpreters during a war and serve in a
post-Saddam administration.
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- The New York Times reported on Monday that the White
House's plans for a post-war Iraq included a U.S. military presence there
for at least 18 months and a civilian administrator.
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- Citing administration officials, the paper said the plan
also called for military trials of the most senior Iraqi leaders and a
takeover of Iraq's oil fields to pay for reconstruction.
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