U.S.-Iraq Talks May Be Canceled in Date Dispute

U.S. and Iraqi diplomats have reached an apparent deadlock in a dispute over a date for a visit to Baghdad by Secretary of State James A. Baker III, and if the impasse is not broken soon, the trip may be canceled, the State Department said Wednesday.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Iraq has refused to budge in its insistence that Baker visit Baghdad on Jan. 12, just three days before a U.N.-imposed deadline for Iraq to get out of Kuwait.

“We have said that we would be willing to go to Baghdad for a meeting on any one of the 15 days between Dec. 20 and Jan. 3 because we think these meetings are important and because we are serious about them,” Boucher said.

Baker has said repeatedly that he will not go any later than Jan. 3. Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze on Tuesday endorsed the Jan. 3 deadline.

Talks between President Bush and Iraq’s foreign minister had been expected Dec. 17, but the White House said this meeting is contingent on agreement on the Baker-Hussein talks.