By Norm Dixon
Despite grudging acceptance of the agreement between UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Iraq President Saddam Hussein over UN weapons inspections, Washington is continuing its preparations for a massive air strike. President Bill Clinton and senior US officials have made it plain that a unilateral attack will be launched at the slightest excuse. Thirty thousand US troops and 400 war planes remain in the region.
For all Clinton's talk of preferring a diplomatic solution to the crisis that erupted after Baghdad placed a number of presidential residences and offices off limits to the inspectors of the US-dominated UN Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM), the US was determined to launch a massive attack until the last moment before Annan departed for Iraq.
Mounting international opposition to the impending bloodbath, especially the intransigence of the majority of the permanent members of the UN Security Council — France, Russia and China — forced the US to put the attack on hold.
Washington's failure to secure Security Council endorsement for its use of force against Iraq deprived the US of the fig leaf it wanted to hide its aggression, and made it much harder to sell to an increasingly sceptical public in the US and around the world. The normally slavishly pro-US regimes of the Middle East — Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf sheikhdoms — frantically warned Washington that they might not be able to contain their peoples' anger following a unilateral US assault.
The accord between Annan and Hussein represents less of a compromise between the UN and Iraq than a compromise between rivals France and Russia on the one hand, and Washington and Britain on the other. France and Russia want an early lifting of the sanctions against Iraq so they can begin oil and reconstruction projects and so that Baghdad can repay huge sums owed from before the 1991 Gulf War.
The terms of the agreement are almost identical to the compromise presented by the Arab League in collaboration with France and Russia in early February. At the time, Washington rejected it out of hand, and blocked moves in the Security Council to allow Annan to travel to Baghdad to negotiate.
Most significantly, the agreement loosens the grip of UNSCOM and its head, Richard Butler, over the weapons inspection process. Iraq accuses UNSCOM of deliberately prolonging sanctions by refusing to certify that facilities and components for weapons of mass destruction have been eliminated.
A new body, composed of UNSCOM inspectors and diplomats from the Security Council, will inspect the eight disputed presidential sites.
To the chagrin of the US, Annan committed UNSCOM to "respect the legitimate concerns of Iraq relating to national security, sovereignty and dignity". The agreement specifically mentions the lifting of sanctions as being "of paramount importance", and binds Annan to "bring this matter to the full attention of the members of the Security Council".
While Iraq dropped its demand that inspections be completed within 60 days, Annan told reporters: "It is important that we try to do our work within a reasonable period".
Clinton has said the US reserves "the unilateral right to respond" if Baghdad "does not keep its word this time". He signalled that UNSCOM would go on the offensive to "test and verify" the agreement, warning of the "severest consequences". US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the US "will act firmly and forcefully, without delay" if the agreement is breached.
However, US and British moves to have the UN Security Council pass a resolution endorsing "the most severe consequences" against Iraq are being blocked by France, Russia and China.