Undaunted Iraq Says It Has Annexed Kuwait : Persian Gulf: Arab leaders gather for critical summit today. Israel is disguising jets, Baghdad claims.

Iraq made clear Wednesday that it had no plans to back down in the Persian Gulf crisis, announcing that it has annexed Kuwait even as Arab leaders prepared to gather today for an emergency summit.

As the first U.S. troops began arriving in Saudi Arabia, Iraq said it had achieved “a comprehensive and eternal merger” with Kuwait by annexing the tiny, oil-rich emirate whose borders it has disputed for the past three decades.

Iraq state radio also broadcast an appeal for the merger from the new proxy government it has established in Kuwait, alleging that the annexation was designed to rectify problematic borders improperly established by outside colonial powers.

“Dear brothers, the crystal-clear historic fact is that Kuwait is a part of Iraq,” the government said. “Kuwait should return to great Iraq, the mother homeland.”

Iraq’s Armed Forces Command later interrupted regular broadcasting to accuse Israel of painting its jets with American markings and equipping pilots with U.S. identity papers. “We issue an Iraqi warning famed for its effectiveness and power. We will retaliate against any aggression . . . (from) any targets that our arm can reach,” the command said.

Israel immediately denied the charge, its own army command calling it “another lie that the president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, is using to advance his aggressive aims.”

In Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak, appearing agitated, said in a special nationwide address timed to precede the annexation announcement: “I’m talking to President Saddam Hussein now, and I’m telling him, ‘Leave Kuwait immediately.’ I’m telling Iraq from here, ‘I’m afraid that you face attacks from a different direction, and I say also that it will destroy you.’ ”

Mubarak said Egypt would be willing to participate in a joint Arab peacekeeping force along the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border should Iraq withdraw its troops. But, to the sound of cheers, he said he is not prepared to dispatch Egyptian troops to serve with “foreigners” as part of an American-organized ground force in Saudi Arabia.

Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi arrived in Cairo late Wednesday, and at least 11 other Arab leaders already have said they will attend the summit, scheduled to convene today as a last-ditch hope of negotiating a resolution to the week-old invasion.

Iraq again denied any intention of attacking Saudi Arabia, but the first U.S. troops began taking up what President Bush said were “defensive positions” near the Kuwaiti border as part of a multinational force that Britain also announced it would join with ships and planes.

The U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Eisenhower and five other U.S. warships passed through the Suez Canal and into the Red Sea on Wednesday. A total of about 50 warships from the United States, Britain and France were either patrolling the Persian Gulf or bound for the region.

In his televised address, Mubarak deplored the Arab states’ failure to negotiate a resolution to the crisis and appealed to Saddam Hussein to withdraw his occupation force from Kuwait.

“I’m afraid of the results if we don’t find a solution soon. The results will destroy all of us,” the Egyptian president said he had also told Jordan’s King Hussein in the days since the invasion.

Mubarak said he personally delayed passage of an Arab League resolution last week condemning the invasion for nearly 48 hours, hoping that King Hussein could persuade Saddam Hussein to withdraw his troops and pledge not to interfere with the government of the Kuwaiti emir, Sheik Jabbar al Ahmed al Sabah.

But Saddam Hussein did not agree to the withdrawal, and Mubarak expressed skepticism at Iraq’s assertions now that it has no plans to attack Saudi Arabia.

“Does anybody believe this?” he asked. “Can I believe this? . . . You said you would not strike (at Kuwait), and you struck. And now you are turning to Saudi Arabia and saying you will not strike.”

Saying he was obligated to allow the Eisenhower to pass through the Suez Canal, Mubarak, his anger apparently rising, declared to Hussein: “You cannot put me in a bind like this. You cannot commit such a crime, and then ask me for the impossible. Don’t embarrass me.”

Mubarak called for convening the summit in six to 24 hours and said the situation was too grave to wait any longer. The issue has now become “internationalized,” he complained: “It seems that the Arabs don’t want to move. We have a country invading another country, and we are sitting, watching and waiting. . . . What are we waiting for?”

In Jordan, King Hussein warned that the summit is the “last chance” to resolve the crisis.

“There is a very rapid escalation and a very rapid deterioration of the situation, and we are very concerned over what might happen. We will do our best so that the Arab world can stop the slide,” he said at a news conference in Amman.

Meanwhile, Jordan practiced the art of fence-sitting Wednesday by trying to distance itself from Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and at the same time expressing dismay at the U.S. troop move into Saudi Arabia.

Prince Hassan, brother of King Hussein, called the American move a “sad outcome.”

“Confrontation will lead to a major loss of life in the region and perhaps beyond,” the prince said.

As for Iraq, “we have not taken leave of our senses and supported armed aggression, particularly as we look at the conquest of territory,” the prince added.

King Hussein has tried to fine-tune Jordan’s position, which has been viewed as pro-Iraq because of the sympathy he has shown for the economic problems that prompted Iraq’s invasion of the oil-rich gulf state.

The Jordanian monarch avoided criticizing the United States for putting troops into Saudi Arabia, nor did he criticize Saudi Arabia for receiving them.

“However, I have always thought and adhere to my commitment that we in the Arab world have a duty to deal with our own problems as quickly as possible,” King Hussein said.

Although there apparently had been discussion of Egyptian and Moroccan troops joining the U.S. ground and air force that began arriving in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, both governments said they have no plans to dispatch troops to the U.S.-led force.

“Frankly speaking, as long as the Americans are going, there’s no need for the Egyptians to go,” said one Egyptian Foreign Ministry source.

The source said the Saudis had always been “sensitive” to Egyptian military presence in the Arabian peninsula.

“If they allow Egyptian troops in, it will only be if they become desperate, in the event of an imminent Iraqi attack or something they can’t handle themselves,” he said.

However, Mubarak said Egypt is willing to deploy troops to serve with other Arab forces along the border between Iraq and Kuwait.

An Egyptian official who asked not to be identified said the Egyptians have for several days been discussing participation in a multinational force of Arab troops operating at various points around the gulf under the supervision of the United Nations or the Arab League.

“It will give them moral legitimacy. It would be better to depend on other Arab brothers, as opposed to Western forces,” he said.

Following Kadafi’s arrival for the summit, Syrian President Hafez Assad was also scheduled to fly in for the summit Wednesday night. Also pledging to attend so far were the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco, Algeria, Yemen, Tunisia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Djibouti and Qatar.

Though various Iraqi officials have recently shuttled back and forth from Cairo for talks, it seemed unlikely that Saddam Hussein himself would attend the summit. And the Kuwaiti News Agency announced early today that Crown Prince Sheik Saad al Abdullah al Sabah will head the delegation from the exiled government.

Meanwhile, in Turkey, military commanders ordered squadrons of Turkish F-16 and F-104 fighters to southern bases along the Iraq border to guard against a potential attack from the Iraqi forces.

However, Turkish armed forces Chief of Staff Gen. Necip Torumtay said Turkish military units will not participate in multinational operations against Iraq.

“For the moment, we don’t think we will participate,” Torumtay said after a morning meeting of military and civilian leaders.

In addition to transferring several squadrons of Turkish fighters to southern bases, including the large Turkish-American Incirlik Air Base near Adana, military commanders ordered leaves canceled for senior officers. However, Torumtay denied reports in Hurriyet, a leading newspaper, that the military is on a state of alert.

The defense move came one day after the Turkish government joined U.N. sanctions against Iraq and closed the two vital Iraqi crude oil pipelines that pass through Turkish territory. The Turkish decision was praised Wednesday by President Bush, who lauded Turkish President Turgut Ozal as “a staunch friend of the United States.”

Today, Secretary of State James A. Baker III will meet with Ozal and other Turkish leaders in Ankara. Turkey is the first country in the region that Baker will visit in the wake of the Iraqi invasion.

In his Oval Office speech Wednesday morning, Bush made it clear that the Baker trip was a gesture of gratitude to the Turks for their difficult participation in the boycott against Iraq. The boycott is expected to cost Turkey $2 billion to $3 billion in lost trade with Iraq.

Reaction on the streets of the Turkish capital and in the mostly anti-government Turkish press Wednesday was mixed. Most Turks appeared proud that their traditionally “in-between” land of 51 million people was again the center of attention in world affairs.

In a subtle gesture obviously aimed at pleasing the Turks, who have so far been unsuccessful in their application for membership in the Economic Community, Bush stressed that Baker would be traveling to “Europe” to meet Ozal. Ankara, the Turkish capital where the two men will meet, is technically in the Asian portion of Turkey, across the Bosporus on the Anatolian Peninsula.

Wrote an editorialist in the newspaper Chat: “This is Turkey’s chance to prove that it is European.”

Times staff writers Rone Tempest, in Ankara, Turkey, and Daniel Williams, in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.