MUSCAT/NEW YORK, 7 October — Interior Minister Prince Naif yesterday called for a united international stand against US threats to attack Iraq. “There should be cooperation (from all countries) in this respect to have a unanimous international stand to prevent the attack on Iraq,” he told reporters. Prince Naif expressed his hope that the US would change its war plan considering its dangerous consequences.
Iraq, meanwhile, yesterday opened the door to a new UN Security Council resolution on arms inspections, as the world body prepared for a week of bargaining after a US warning that war may already be unavoidable. Muhammad Aldouri, Iraq’s ambassador in New York, said Baghdad would be willing to consider a new resolution.
“We are not rejecting any resolutions of the Security Council,” he told the US television network ABC, although the Iraqi government has previously ruled out any new conditions before weapons inspectors return to Baghdad. “We will see these resolutions. First of all to have this resolution in our hand, and after that we can conclude,” the ambassador said.
US President George Bush cranked up the pressure this weekend with a stark warning that war may be unavoidable. “The danger to America from the Iraqi regime is grave and growing,” Bush charged in a weekly radio address on Saturday. “The use of force may become unavoidable,” he said, accusing Iraq of having defied the international community ever since the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait.
But the Washington Post reported yesterday that war may still be averted because US intelligence experts believe Iraqi President Saddam Hussein will be ousted by members of his inner circle before US forces launch a major ground attack. Faced with a US military assault and the choice of either being Saddam’s successors or being imprisoned or killed, top-ranking officers or senior officials will likely try to eliminate the Iraqi leader, current and former US officials and intelligence experts told the daily.
In the Gulf, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri moved onto Oman after talks in Bahrain with King Hamad who said he was “satisfied” that Baghdad had agreed to the return of arms inspectors after a four-year break. As part of a diplomatic offensive to persuade Arab neighbors to at least remain neutral if Washington attacks.
