BAGHDAD/ATHENS, 11 January 2003 — Europe yesterday moved to stay America’s hand over Iraq, as top officials spoke out against a rush to war on the basis of inconclusive weapons inspections. “Without proof, it would be very difficult to start a war,” European Union foreign policy coordinator Javier Solana said.
As US President George W. Bush continued to mobilize his forces and met Iraqi opposition leaders, one of President Saddam Hussein’s main Iraqi foes said an invasion could destabilize the Middle East and warned that the sort of massive occupying force Washington envisages would face popular armed resistance. “We reject the idea of an invasion and occupation of Iraqi territory,” said Ayatollah Muhammad Baqer Al-Hakim.
After UN inspectors told the Security Council on Thursday they had found no “smoking guns” to challenge Iraq’s insistence it has no nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, Washington made clear it still felt Baghdad was defying the United Nations.
In Athens, EU Commission President Romano Prodi and Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, current European Union president, said the bloc was determined to unite to seek a peaceful solution.
“I say war is not and must not be inevitable. We all have to do everything we can to find a peaceful solution to the crisis,” Prodi told a news conference with Simitis. Simitis said he would try to bring about a common EU position on the crisis over Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction and he hoped the European Union could contribute to peace by building its common foreign policy.
Saudi Arabia yesterday denied renewed reports that it was urging Saddam Hussein to step down to spare the region a US-led war.
“There have been reports of a visit to Baghdad by a top Saudi official to discuss the possibility of Saddam giving up power... These reports are without foundation,” a government spokesman told the SPA news agency in Riyadh.
UN inspectors stepped up the search for banned Iraqi weaponry yesterday after their chiefs told the Security Council they had yet to find a “smoking gun”, but Washington warned it might not wait for one to launch a war. Turkey, crucial for any invasion of northern Iraq, finally gave the go-ahead for a US team of 150 experts to survey its bases ahead of a possible war.
Germ warfare specialists scoured two warehouses in Baghdad, while a chemicals team looked for clues in a factory in the capital’s southern suburbs. A combined team visited a firm dealing in pharmaceuticals and medical equipment in the suburb of Al-Amariya. (The Independent)
