Phil Brennan, NewsMax.com
Thursday, Sept. 19, 2002

Hopes that what appeared to be the answer to U.S. demands by Iraq faded Wednesday when the Bush administration refused to accept Saddam’s offer to re-admit arms inspectors and give them "unconditional access."

The Iraqi offer contained in a letter to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan turned out to be less than what it first appeared to be – a complete surrender to U.N. and U.S. demands that inspectors be allowed to come back to Iraq without any preconditions whatsoever.

But as has often been the case with Saddam, the offer had rather large strings attached. In Saddam’s mind, unconditional access meant access only to Iraqi military bases, a neat little loophole which would allow the Iraqi dictator to conceal his stockpiles of chemical and biological arms elsewhere.

That exception to full access got a cold shoulder from Britain which insisted that "Inspectors must be allowed to go anywhere, anytime."

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw warned against being tricked by Iraq. "We have had games played by Saddam Hussein for the best part of 12 years," he said, adding "One thing I know for certain about him is he only responds to sustained pressure from the United Nations."

But Saddam’s stalling for time created chinks in the wall of unity the U.S. is trying to create among U.N. member nations as NewsMax.com reported Tuesday night.

Some nations which have been less than cordial to the idea of an attack on Iraq have used the Iraqi offer as justification for the claim that the looming war crisis is all but over.

The disclosure that restrictions were, after all, attached to Saddam's offer was made by Ali Muhsen Hamid, the London ambassador of the Arab League which worked out the arms inspection deal in the first place.

Hamid insisted that Iraq was sincere in making the offer, but he stipulated that civilian sites would not be available to the inspectors. "We support anywhere, any military site [for inspections], but not as some people have suggested for inspections against hospitals, against schools."

Intelligence officials say that institutions such as hospitals are exactly among those sites requiring close inspections because there is ample evidence that Saddam uses their laboratories to manufacture viruses for biological weapons.

Iraq is taking full advantage of the disunity at the U.N. and among European capitals to launch a full-scale propaganda offensive.

Tariq Aziz, Saddam's deputy prime minister, said the offer "thwarted" any reasons for a military attack. He added: "The aim of the American policies is the oil in the Gulf."

Adding fuel to the fire, Iraq’s state news agency predicted that Saddam may send a personal appeal to the U.N. within days, a stratagem that could create even more dissension.

In the face of all of this, President Bush has made it clear that although the U.S wants U.N. backing, he is perfectly willing to go it alone.

Last week he told the U.N. General Assembly that "action will be unavoidable" against Iraq unless the world body forced Baghdad to disarm. Since then he has made it clear that he meant what he said.

The word around Washington is that an attack on Iraq can be expected sooner rather than later no matter what the U.N. does.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

George W. Bush

Saddam Hussein/Iraq

United Nations

War on Terrorism

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