Posted on 11/11/2002 6:31:19 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Arab governments on Sunday voiced collective support for new weapons inspections inside Iraq, although they want Arab experts added to the inspection teams and warned that the latest U.N. resolution should not be considered a free pass for Washington to invade.
In Washington, Bush administration officials vowed Sunday they would have "zero tolerance" if Saddam Hussein tries to evade the new United Nations demands, warning that war would be the swift result.
A resolution expressing support that was approved during a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo, Egypt, reflected the underlying sense that most regional governments remain perfectly happy to see Saddam defanged, political analysts said, yet they fear the repercussions of another war in the region.
Arab League members were particularly blunt with Iraq's foreign minister at the Cairo meeting.
"We're telling Iraq the Americans are really serious and this time we're not with you," said a senior adviser to one Arab delegation. "If you reject the resolution, you're on your own."
The action by the Arab League emphasizes that the Security Council vote "is not a pretext for another military action against Iraq," said Naji Sabri, the Iraqi foreign minister, speaking at a news conference after the Arab League meeting.
Iraq appeared to be bowing toward the inevitable, with Saddam planning to convene a special session of parliament today to discuss the issue of renewed inspections -- the usual choreography for a simulated public stamp of approval for a decision the regime finds distasteful.
Saddam has until Friday to officially accept or reject the resolution. If he accepts, the inspectors, led by Hans Blix, will return to Baghdad by next Monday to set up logistical facilities. They withdrew from Iraq in 1998 after being denied access to Saddam's palaces and being accused by the Iraqi president of being spies.
Iraqi 'Ploy' Derided: White House National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice derided the Iraqi parliamentary session as "ludicrous" and little more than a ruse by Saddam, who wields absolute power.
"Saddam Hussein is an absolute dictator and tyrant, and the idea that somehow he expects the Iraqi parliament to debate this -- they've never debated anything else," Rice said on ABC's "This Week." "I'm surprised he's even bothering to go through this ploy."
Rice added that the Iraqis "do not have the right to accept or reject this resolution," but must simply acknowledge it and then proceed to disclose all of their nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs.
"We have to have a zero-tolerance view of the Iraqi regime this time," Rice said. "The next material breach by Saddam Hussein has got to have serious consequences. I think it's pretty clear what that may mean."
The extent to which governments in the region are concerned about the impact of any action against Iraq on regional stability was expressed Sunday by Syria's foreign minister, Farouk al-Sharaa, on the sidelines of the meeting. He said Syria's decision to join the unanimous 15-0 vote in the Security Council to pass the resolution demanding renewed weapons inspections was designed to spare the Iraqis being hit by the United States.
Iraq's government-controlled newspapers started out calling the U.N. Security Council resolution 1441, on disarmament of Iraq, "bad and unfair."
But by Sunday, officials and the media were hailing it as an international effort to thwart the American desire for war.
Although Iraq has several more days to declare that it intends to comply fully with the terms of the resolution, Sabri noted that Iraq had agreed to renewed inspections previously and said there was no need to alter the U.N. guidelines about the way they worked.
"The problem is that we need experts who work in a professional, objective way," Sabri said, adding that, as the Arab League communique noted, the new inspection teams should not "try to provoke or incite clashes as they have previously."
Sabri said that if inspectors worked that way, they would expose the "great lie" promulgated by the United States. "It is the lie about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," he said.
No Assurances: The Arab League resolution emphasized that only the Security Council should evaluate the reports from the inspectors.
Such cooperation should lead to the lifting of sanctions against Iraq since it invaded Kuwait in 1990, the League said, adding that ordinary Iraqis had suffered because of the sanctions.
The official Iraqi news agency reported Sunday that Sabri, the Iraqi foreign minister, had sought assurances from the Arab governments that they would take specific steps in the event of an attack.
These included not only barring U.S. forces from using bases in their countries to attack Iraq, but also committing themselves to further measures like stopping oil shipments to countries that participate in any attack, breaking diplomatic relations and withdrawing financial assets.
None of these proposals were reflected in the communique issued by the League.
Cliton's foreign policy consisted entirely of apologizing for the U.S.'s many past "transgressions". The whole world still is having trouble adapting to a President who actually expects to be taken seriously as the leader of a sovereign nation.
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