Iraq Delivers Food to Besieged U.S. Embassy : Kuwait: Surprise gesture brings basket of fruit, vegetables and cigarettes. Bush reacts cautiously.

In a surprise gesture, Iraqi officials Friday delivered a basket of fruit, vegetables and cigarettes to the besieged U.S. Embassy in Kuwait city, three months after Iraqi forces cut off water and electricity and ringed the outpost with troops.

The unexpected move--which followed strong American protests against the Iraqi treatment of diplomats and hints of a U.S. armed resupply convoy--intrigued President Bush, although he acknowledged that he does not know what it means.

“This could be a positive sign,” Bush said at a news conference. “But it’s so far short of compliance with international law that I can’t be rejoicing. But it is a very interesting development.”

The Iraqi authorities’ visit to the embassy, in which they also asked whether any medical supplies were needed, was seen as either a public relations maneuver or an indication that the Iraqi government did not want to risk a military conflict now over the embassy’s dwindling food stocks.

Only the United States and Britain have kept their embassies open in the ravaged city, despite Iraqi orders on Aug. 24 to move their diplomatic missions in Kuwait city to Baghdad, the capital of Iraq.

In a defiant holdout against the Iraqi occupation, the Americans--including eight State Department officials and more than a dozen others who sought haven there--have been subsisting primarily on canned tuna and rice since the Iraqi conquest of Kuwait last August. They also have bottled water obtained by Ambassador W. Nathaniel Howell III before the siege began and some vegetables from a new garden.

U.S. officials said that the embassy--which is still in communication with Washington despite the shut-off of power--has been the only link for hundreds of other Americans and foreign nationals who have been hiding out in Kuwait since the invasion.

Bush disclosed the Iraqi gift to the embassy after he was asked whether he would allow the embassy to be closed or the Americans living there to be starved out.

“I will not say exactly what I will do or exactly what I won’t do,” the President replied.

In addition to the fruit basket, he said: “Apparently there’s going to be another delivery tomorrow, including soda pop. And they (Iraqis) asked what medical supplies were required . . . and the embassy will apparently provide a list tomorrow.”

But Bush reminded reporters that the Iraqis have not restored electricity and water to the American compound, and he said that the food basket clearly was far from an adequate resupply.

“They provided a small amount of tangerines, oranges, cucumbers and small, bruised cooking apples, along with a case of Iraqi cigarettes,” a State Department official said.

It was not known whether the British Embassy received a similar delivery.

The incident dramatized the plight of the Americans, who virtually have been held as captives in the embassy since the Iraqis declared Kuwait a province of Iraq and not suitable for diplomatic stations.

At first, the embassy was not expected to stay open for more than a few weeks, but fortitude and last-minute provisioning have allowed the Americans in the compound to hold out. Howell bought a large cache of foodstuffs from local warehouses right after the Aug. 2 invasion.

They use slit trenches in the garden for toilets and grow lettuce and tomatoes in a tiny garden. A shallow well was dug to get water for washing themselves and their laundry.