Iraq Rousts Diplomats : Bush Calls Break-Ins ‘Outrageous’

Iraqi troops burst into the diplomatic compounds of France, Canada and Belgium in Kuwait today, briefly detaining five Western consuls including an American, capturing four French citizens and provoking calls for retaliation.

One of the four, France’s military attache, was freed after several hours.

President Bush condemned the “outrageous” break-in of the French Embassy residence and said the episode and the brief detaining of an American consul adds up to “clear violation of international law.”

The President said he had talked with French President Francois Mitterrand and had told him that the United States would “do anything I could to support whatever he decides to do” in response to the break-in at the ambassador’s home.

“We’ll simply wait and see what they recommend,” Bush said. He spoke to reporters on the White House lawn.

Bush was asked if the United States and its allies would now seek to escalate the pressure on Iraq.

“When an escalation is required from me, Saddam Hussein will know it,” he said.

Mitterrand called an emergency Cabinet meeting for Saturday, saying the raid “is an aggression, and we will respond to it.”

“We will have to decide and show very clearly our obligations,” he said.

Iraq’s official news agency denied that Iraqi soldiers stormed the compounds, which it referred to as “former diplomatic missions in the province of Kuwait.”

There was no word on the fate of the three French civilians seized with the attache, Col. Edouard Crespin. They had been hiding in the embassy compound to avoid being taken hostage.

The Canadian Embassy in Paris said special Iraqi forces entered the ambassador’s residence, which is part of the compound, before dawn. The consul was briefly detained but later released, along with consuls from the United States, Ireland, Britain and Australia, according to a Canadian diplomat in Washington.

The consuls had been meeting to discuss the evacuation of additional Westerners from Kuwait, said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Belgian officials said three Iraqi soldiers entered Belgium’s diplomatic compound and ordered the two remaining diplomats to leave the embassy.

The soldiers left after the diplomats fled into the ambassador’s adjacent residence.

The Netherlands disclosed that Iraqi troops had forced their way into its ambassador’s residence in Kuwait earlier this week. It said Iraq’s ambassador was summoned to hear a “sharp protest.”

In another development today, Secretary of State James A. Baker III met with Syrian President Hafez Assad in Damascus for nearly five hours.

Baker told reporters afterward that the Syrians had volunteered to send “substantial forces” to Saudi Arabia.

Western diplomatic sources said 15,000 Syrian troops will join the 3,000 already there.

Baker also said he and Assad “talked about the subject of terrorism and the real problems that the U.S. has with Syria on this subject. We have had extensive discussions on that topic.”