Iraq Urges U.N. to Stop U.S.-British Air Strikes

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq has urged the United Nations to stop an "undeclared war" waged by U.S. and British warplanes policing a self-declared "no-fly" zone in the south of the country.

U.N. weapons inspectors left their Baghdad base on Sunday, heading for a number of undisclosed sites in their search for traces of banned weapons of mass destruction.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri, in a letter sent to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Saturday, said allied planes based in neighboring Kuwait had violated Iraqi airspace on 1,141 occasions between November 9 and December 6.

"These daily violations...facilitated by the government of Kuwait, and the barbaric bombing of Iraq's cities and villages, have reached the level of an undeclared war," Sabri wrote.

"The United Nations must take the necessary steps in line with the (U.N.) charter to halt the aggression."

Iraq does not recognize the no-fly zones set up after the 1991 Gulf War to protect a Kurdish enclave in the north and Shi'ite Muslims in the south from possible attack by President Saddam Hussein's forces.

Iraq said U.S. and British warplanes attacked civilian targets, but the U.S. military said the planes had targeted Iraqi air defense facilities after coming under fire.

Iraqi air defense forces have fired at U.S. and British aircraft more than 470 times and violated the southern no-fly zone on 13 days this year, a U.S. statement said.

In the same period, allied aircraft have responded by striking Iraqi military targets more than 80 times.

Iraq says the air raids often hit civilian sites, killing innocent people. Washington says civilians are never targeted.

U.N. arms experts set off again to search sites on Sunday after inspecting about a dozen buildings on Saturday in their busiest day so far.

The inspectors returned to Iraq last month after a four-year absence to look for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

Washington says it will topple Saddam and disarm Iraq by force if it fails to disarm voluntarily.

Saddam's opponents began a meeting in London on Saturday with the aim of burying their differences and mapping out a future for Iraq in the event Saddam is ousted.

About 300 delegates attended on the invitation of a committee of six opposition groups recognized by the United States.

The meeting heard calls for a federal Iraq, liberated from Saddam's Ba'ath Party.

But the extent to which the Iraqi delegates have support in their homeland is unclear. Saddam has now been in power for 30 years and most of the delegates have been in exile for decades.

Zalmay Khalilzad, Bush's special envoy to "free Iraqis," told the conference the United States supported a democratic future for Iraq.

"The Iraqi people will find the U.S. standing with them to make a better future," he said, adding that Washington did not want "Saddamism without Saddam," or another strongman in Iraq.

The U.N. arms experts returned to Iraq after a November 8 Security Council resolution demanding Iraq disarm or face serious consequences.

The United Nations is also pressing Iraq for a list of scientists linked to its chemical, biological, nuclear and long-range missile programs so that U.N. experts can interview them inside or outside the country.

Chief U.N. arms inspector Hans Blix has asked Iraq in writing to name the scientists by the end of December. An Iraqi official has said a list is in the works.

Under the resolution the inspectors have the right to interview in private anyone who might know details of Iraq's weapons programs, if necessary by taking them and their families out of the country.

Some diplomats believe the United States is pushing the issue to provoke a clash between Baghdad and the U.N. arms experts that could provide a pretext for a war on Iraq.

In a fresh sign of preparation for war, the United States has ordered another 27,000 Reserve and National Guard troops to prepare for active duty, defense officials in Washington said.

If President Bush orders an attack against Iraq, the Pentagon is expected to activate up to 200,000 reservists to fill key posts in the military from piloting warplanes to shipping arms.

"These daily violations...facilitated by the government of Kuwait, and the barbaric bombing of Iraq's cities and villages, have reached the level of an undeclared war,"

- I agree. Let's stop screwing around and declare the war. I would like to propose a toast to Saddam's death by New Year's.

It's called "assymetrical warfare": Iraq need not follow UN resolutions, but the US must. Iraq may shoot at US planes, but US planes may not shoot back. Iraq may invade other countries without a UN resolution (Kuwait) but the US may not. Iraq may surrender to the US but it need not follow the terms of the surrender. This policy is also known as Wise European Multilateralism, or No Blood for Oil.

Hey, Saddam:

Eat this, you goat buggerer!

Regards, Ivan

"In the near future, they'll long for that kind of air strike."

- In the near future, they'll long for the days of Desert Storm.

I agree wholeheartedly with the right honourable citizen's sentiments. It is indeed well past time when we should cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war.

Pax e superioribus armis.

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