Stewart Stogel, NewsMax.com
Friday, July 19, 2002

If the Iraqi leader follows through, it would mark the first time U.N. inspectors have been allowed inside the country since December 1998.

At that time, U.N. arms chief Richard Butler decided to evacuate the country in advance of Operation Desert Fox.

Just two weeks ago in Vienna, a third round of talks between U.N. chief Kofi Annan and Iraqi officals, called to discuss arms inspections, ended in deadlock. However, both sides did agree to continue "technical" talks at a time and place to be determined.

Now, it appears the "technical" talks will continue in Baghdad.

The Iraqi diplomat explained that though U.N. arms chief Hans Blix would be invited to Baghdad, no decision has yet been made to allow arms inspections to resume.

U.N. officials speculate that Iraq may have been tempted to make the offer to forestall any impending U.S. military action. Talk at the U.N. has been centering on some sort of U.S. military move in August, when Washington becomes president of the Security Council.

The issue of Iraq was raised on Tuesday when Secretary of State Colin Powell met privately with Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov in New York.

While keeping the U.S. at bay, U.N. officials feel that Iraq may also use any delay in U.S. action to sanitize weapons sites and hide any "prohibited" weapons in isolated areas around the country.

The U.N., though yet to be given a green light to resume inspections, would be given an opportunity to physically inspect and assess the condition of their facilities vacant for almost four years.

"We would expect our facilities to be pretty much in the same condition we left them, but who knows?" explained Ewen Buchanan, spokesman for UNMOVIC (U.N. Monitoring, Observation, Verification and Inspection Commission).

It is unclear whether the Bush administration would seek to block such a U.N. visit. Representatives of John Negroponte, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., refused to comment on the latest Iraqi move.

U.N. officials explain that though the U.S. may not be in favor of such a visit, "Washington would be under intense pressure by the French, Russians and Chinese to let the trip go forward."

While the visit in reality may not move the U.N. any closer to the resumption of arms inspections, the expected media attention of U.N. arms officials touching down in Baghdad, would be worth its weight in gold to Saddam Hussein, confided an UNMOVIC staffer.

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