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S P E C I A L: The Standoff with Iraq

Annan optimistic on Iraq solution

Annan and Chirac
Annan consulted with Chirac on how to resolve the crisis in Iraq peacefully

Arrives in Paris en route to Baghdad

In this story: February 19, 1998
Web posted at: 10:56 p.m. EST (0356 GMT)

PARIS (CNN) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, arriving in Paris on Thursday night on his way to Iraq, expressed hope that his visit to Baghdad could peacefully resolve the standoff between the United Nations and Iraq.

"We have all the elements to succeed if everybody works conscientiously and with good will and the determination to avoid unnecessary bloodshed for the Iraqi people, who have suffered enough," Annan said.

"Iraq doesn't need another military action, the region doesn't need it, the world doesn't need it. And I hope the Iraqi leadership realizes [that] ... and works with me in resolving this issue peacefully," he said.

Annan traveled from the airport to a meeting with French President Jacques Chirac. After about 30 minutes, the president and the secretary emerged, with Chirac endorsing the proposals Annan is taking to Baghdad.

"I hope wisdom and reason prevail," said Chirac. "I know Annan will do his best to maintain peace."

Friday, Annan is to leave Paris on a special French government jet, headed for Iraq. French officials have said they expect him back through Paris either Sunday night or Monday morning.

His trip is widely seen as the last hope for a diplomatic solution to the standoff over Baghdad's refusal to allow U.N. monitors unrestricted access to so-called "presidential" sites in their search for weapons of mass destruction.

U.S. military buildup continues
U.S. troops arrive in Kuwait
U.S. troops arrive in Kuwait
 
icon VXtreme Video
President Clinton speaks with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House

But even as Annan was making his way to the Middle East, the United States continued apace with its military buildup.

Nearly 750 U.S. Army soldiers, from Fort Stewart, Georgia, arrived in Kuwait on civilian aircraft. Over the next few days, nearly 5,000 others are expected to follow in a deployment that has been dubbed Operation Desert Thunder.

Because the United States has stockpiled equipment in Kuwait since the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the soldiers will have the necessary equipment to be deployed quickly. Army officials say that they can get soldiers fully equipped and into the field just 16 hours after they arrive.

In Washington on Thursday, President Clinton wished Annan success in his mission to Iraq. But he made it clear that the United States is "prepared to act" if diplomacy fails to end the weapons inspection standoff.

"The choice is Saddam Hussein's. We hope he will accept the mandate of the world community. He has, after all, agreed to it, years ago. If not, he must bear the responsibility for the consequences," Clinton said.

Clinton also announced he had asked Vice President Al Gore to delay a planned trip to South Africa next week so the full national security team will be on hand if the United States decides to attack Iraq.

Clinton: 'Americans support our policy'

Asked about the critical questioning and heckling of U.S. officials on Wednesday as they explained the administration's Iraq policy at a town hall meeting in Columbus, Ohio, Clinton called the event a "good, old-fashioned American debate" that should not mislead Iraq into thinking a majority of Americans oppose a military strike.

"I believe strongly that most Americans support our policy," Clinton said.

Iraqi television has been repeatedly running CNN's footage of the town hall forum in an attempt to demonstrate to the Iraqi people that there is internal opposition to a U.S. strike.

State-run television also ran a grainy, pirated copy of "Wag the Dog," a movie now in U.S. theaters in which a fictional American administration goes to war to divert attention from a president's sex scandal.

Iraqi opposition meets with U.S. officials

Leaders of the Iraq National Congress, which opposes the current Baghdad regime, will meet with State Department officials Friday to push a plan for the overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Zaab Sethna, a media consultant to the Iraqi group, told CNN that its plans do not involve U.S. financial aid or U.S. soldiers on the ground in Iraq. Instead, he says the opposition group wants U.S. recognition for a provisional government -- and air power to support it.

The government would occupy regions in the north and south of the country now held by Iraqi troops. Sethna says U.S. air power would be used to enforce a "no-drive zone" in the region and attack any Iraqi tanks or artillery in either area.

In addition, sanctions would be lifted against Iraq. By controlling the northern and southern regions, Sethna says the opposition also would control several key oil facilities. With sanctions lifted, they could sell the oil to support their efforts to overthrow Hussein.

Sethna also addressed concerns over the fractious nature of the Iraqi opposition, saying they are united in their efforts to overthrow Hussein and bring democracy to Iraq.

Experts say Iraq could have made VX gas

At the United Nations in New York, international experts reported Thursday that Iraq had the know-how, equipment and possibly the ingredients to manufacture as much as 200 metric tons of the deadly nerve gas VX -- and concluded that more work needs to done to account for all Iraq's proscribed missile warheads.

Iraq had hoped that those experts would support its claim that it no longer had any such weapons.

The U.N. Security Council, which received copies of the experts' reports Thursday, expected to be briefed by chief U.N. weapons inspector Richard Butler. But that was postponed until Annan's return from Iraq.

In other developments:

  • Hussein sent a message to Russian President Boris Yeltsin saying he remains committed to a diplomatic solution, the official Iraqi News Agency reported. It also said the Iraqi leader had met with Russian envoy Viktor Posuvalyuk, who presented a letter from Yeltsin. The report did not say when the meeting took place.

  • Former U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar said he has dim hopes for Annan's mission to Baghdad. Perez de Cuellar failed on his own diplomatic quest before the 1991 Gulf War, but Annan said he is "not too worried" about a similar outcome this time.

  • British Prime Minister Tony Blair told Annan that "the threat of force is real." The two men spoke by telephone and the British leader stressed there should be "no fudging" when the U.N. chief meets with Hussein, Blair's spokesman said.

  • Britain announced that it was sending a second aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf, officially to replace the one already there. However, officials indicated that both carriers could remain if the region if needed.

  • A U.N. advance team of about 20 support staff arrived at Habbaniya airport west of Baghdad to prepare for Annan's arrival.

  • The United States advised its citizens not to travel to the West Bank or Gaza, where U.S. threats of a military strike on Iraq have led to angry Palestinian protests. Americans were also advised to exercise caution in Jerusalem, and U.S. consular employees were banned from traveling to the West Bank.

    Britain also advised its nationals to use caution in Palestinian-controlled areas.

  • Israeli policemen fired live rounds into the air to disperse hundreds of young Palestinians who blocked a major West Bank road and stoned cars of Jewish settlers to show their support for Saddam Hussein.

  • As a precaution against an attack, 31 employees of the U.N. humanitarian office in Baghdad left the Iraqi capital. Roughly the same number was expected to leave on Friday. About 250 relief workers from a staff that once numbered about 400 remain.

  • The three-man U.N. team mapping Iraq's presidential palaces finished its work Wednesday. The team's work is expected to determine which buildings within the disputed sites should be examined by U.N. weapons inspectors.

  • The Polish Embassy, which has represented U.S. interests in Baghdad since the Gulf War, evacuated 10 of its 16 diplomats. The Polish ambassador and another diplomat who works on behalf of the United States were among those staying behind.

  • The Iraqi leader's eldest son, Uday, turned a meeting with sports officials from Qatar into a political platform shown on Iraqi television. The United States, he said, was leading an "evil and barbaric campaign" against Iraq. "God willing," he went on, "the day will come when America kneels before Iraq and the gallant Saddam Hussein."

  • Israeli department stores began selling gas masks to non-citizens living in the country. In addition, Israeli soldiers were asked to give their army-issue masks to civilians without protection against a possible Iraqi attack.

  • The Philippines has suspended the deployment of Filipino workers to the Middle East because of "the threat of an impending U.S. military strike against Iraq," the government said. About 600,000 Filipinos work in the Middle East, officials said.

    Correspondents Ben Wedeman, Brent Sadler, Linda Patillo, Jim Bitterman and Dale Willman and Reuters contributed to this report.

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