Without copter, inspectors make rounds

Two U.N. inspectors speak inside al-Magd company's storehouse area in Baghdad on Wednesday.

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PERSPECTIVE Fouad Ajami, professor of Middle Eastern studies at Johns Hopkins University, has written a major piece on Iraq for Foreign Affairs magazine.  In an interview, CNN's Leon Harris asked Ajami if he thinks war with Iraq is inevitable: "Well, I think we've crossed the Rubicon on this issue. I think it's reckoning time for Saddam Hussein. We have to get him or forget him, because we have come to this point in this story. The man has mocked American power. The man is a threat to our interests. And though he may not have been directly implicated in September 11, his example in the region is radicalizing. So it's time to really resolve this. ... "People say, 'Are the Saudis with us or are they not? Are the Turks with us or are they not?' They will be with us if we resolve this. But if they continue to hear that there's a fight in Washington between the hawks and the doves and that Secretary [of State Colin] Powell doesn't want war or Secretary [of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld wants war, they will simply duck and wait for us to make that decision.  Once we make that decision, we will transform that landscape." VIDEO American soldiers in Kuwait celebrate the new year with an improvised talent show. CNN's Ryan Chilcote reports. PLAY VIDEO Sources tell CNN's Jamie McIntyre as many as 100 warplanes are being moved to the Gulf in a buildup that could stretch into March. PLAY VIDEO RELATED • Special Report: Showdown: Iraq

(CNN) -- With events moving closer to a possible war with Iraq, here is a look at some of the latest developments around the world:

ROAD TO WAR?

• EARTHBOUND INSPECTIONS: U.N. teams began their first searches of the new year amid objections from Iraq to planned aerial inspections of suspected weapons sites. U.N. intelligence sources told CNN that helicopter surveys of Iraqi sites may have been delayed Wednesday for "technical reasons." But the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said the matter had been the topic of discussion in a meeting between U.N. and Iraqi officials. (Full story)

• COALITION AIRSTRIKE: Operation Southern Watch aircraft struck an Iraqi air defense radar site southeast of Baghdad early Wednesday, the U.S. Central Command said. The U.S. military said the strike -- against a site at Al Qurnah, about 130 miles southeast of the capital -- was a response to "Iraqi threats against coalition aircraft monitoring compliance of U.N. Security Council resolutions over southern Iraq." The Iraqi military said the planes hit a civilian site, killing one civilian and wounding two others, according to the Iraqi News Agency. (Full story)

• ANNAN: IRAQ COOPERATING: In an interview with Israeli army radio Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Iraq has cooperated with the inspectors and said he didn't think the United States would launch a military strike before inspectors reported back to the Security Council on January 27. (Full story)

• PREDATOR STRIKES AGAIN: For the second time in a week, a U.S. Air Force Predator unmanned aerial vehicle has been used to destroy a mobile radar unit, the U.S. Central Command said Tuesday. The Predator fired a Hellfire missile at the radar unit Monday after the system was moved below the 32nd parallel, the northern boundary of the southern no-fly zone, by Iraqi forces. (Full story)

WAR OF WORDS

• Iraq's daily Babel newspaper -- owned by President Saddam Hussein's eldest son Uday -- suggested that Iraqis might be better served by imitating North Korea where inspections are concerned. Babel said the North Korean move to restart its nuclear programs and expel U.N. monitors was "courageous" and that such a move might force the "U.S.-Zionist crusade" to respect Iraq. (North Korea seeks to divide U.S. and South Korea)

• In his interview with Israeli army radio Annan said, "Iraq is cooperating and they [inspectors] are able to do their work in an unimpeded manner and therefore I don't see an argument for a military action now. " The U.N. secretary-general said of his inspection teams, "They may give an interim report before [January] 27, and I really do not see any basis for an action until then, particularly as they are able to carry out their work in an unimpeded manner."

• "I want to remind people that Saddam Hussein, the choice is his to make as to whether or not the Iraqi situation resolved peacefully," President Bush said in response to a reporter's question Tuesday at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. "You said we're headed to war in Iraq. I don't know why you say that. I hope we're not headed to war in Iraq."

IMPACT

• About 30 activists from the Iraq Peace Team, a U.S.-British coalition against economic sanctions waved and sang peace songs Wednesday as U.N. weapons inspectors in Baghdad moved off their compound to make their first inspections of 2003. The group released a dove as inspectors drove by. They called for a peaceful solution to the Iraq crisis and a rejection of any military action against the country. (Full story)

• It is "impossible to know" what the cost of a possible war in Iraq might be, and the only reference point is the price tag of the 1991 Persian Gulf War -- $60 billion -- a spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget said Tuesday. The spokesman, Trent Duffy, said OMB Director Mitch Daniels did not intend to imply, in an interview with the New York Times, that $50 billion to $60 billion is a hard White House estimate. "He said it could -- could -- be $60 billion," Duffy said. (Full story)

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