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Arab states welcome missile pledge
SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt (CNN) -- Arab nations have welcomed Iraq's reluctant promise to dismantle its Al Samoud 2 missiles, seeing the move as a sign of hope that war might be avoided. But those arriving at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh for Saturday's Arab League summit acknowledged that Iraq must act quickly and cooperate with the U.N. inspectors who ordered the missiles' destruction. "I think this is a positive step," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said. "It has to be implemented swiftly, and I think that there are other steps that can be taken by Iraq and should be taken by Iraq in accordance with the report of (U.N. chief weapons inspectors Hans) Blix and (Mohamed) Elbaradei." In a letter last week, Blix ordered Baghdad to begin destroying the missiles by March 1 under the supervision of weapons inspectors. Baghdad responded in a letter Thursday. Despite calling Blix's order "unjust" and "abusive," Iraq agreed to begin the process. Informed Iraqi sources said the destruction would begin Saturday. (Full story) The Arab nations were coming together in Egypt to discuss ways to avoid a war the United States, Great Britain and others appear certain to launch. President Bush and his principal backers insist that Iraq is showing no signs of cooperating with U.N. resolutions to disarm and must be disarmed by force. Iraq insists that it is cooperating, and other U.N. nations -- led by France and Germany -- agree that Iraq is not cooperating to its fullest extent but nevertheless want to give the inspections regimen more time. "I hope that this is a new beginning for avoiding war," Maher said. "This is the subject, this is our main concern at this conference and surely this, if implemented swiftly, can contribute to the goals that we are pursuing through this conference." Libya's foreign minister, Abdul Salam Toreki, said the Arab nations must remain on the course they have already begun in regard to Iraq. "I think what we have to ask Iraq is to cooperate with the inspectors," he said. "We have to do that and we did that and we have to encourage them to cooperate." But Iraq's representative to the summit, Trade Minister Ali Mohammed Saleh, said Iraq's agreement to abide by the U.N. order indicated nothing more than Bush's intentions of replacing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein with a leader more to his liking. "This is an indication of the failure of U.S. President Bush in handling this issue through diplomatic means," Saleh said, "and this showed that the war is not about the issue of disarming Iraq as much as the desire to change the regime that does not abide by U.S. influence."
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