Iraq Agrees to Offer of 11th-Hour Peace Talks : Gulf crisis: Baker and Aziz will meet in Geneva on Wednesday, six days before U.N. deadline for withdrawal from Kuwait.

The embattled Iraqi regime Friday agreed to send its foreign minister to Geneva next week for talks with Secretary of State James A. Baker III on an 11th-hour chance for peace in the Persian Gulf.

The decision, announced by Baghdad Radio, came 24 hours after President Bush proposed the meeting. It will take place on Wednesday, six days before a U.N. Security Council deadline for Iraqi troops to withdraw from Kuwait or face the prospect of war.

“Iraq, out of respect for world public opinion and for the norms and practice among countries--but not out of consideration for the American Administration’s stand and bad tactics--has responded positively to the American proposal,” the Baghdad broadcast quoted Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz as saying.

“We have notified the American side of our approval to the convening of a meeting between myself and American minister Baker on Jan. 9 in Switzerland.”

The official Iraqi News Agency, reporting the breakthrough on deadlocked attempts for high-level talks, said President Saddam Hussein had discussed “the latest political developments” Friday with his ruling Revolutionary Command Council. The agency gave no details.

At the White House, Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater called the Iraqi acceptance “an encouraging sign at least that they’re willing to talk” but would not comment further until Washington officials have talked with Charge d’Affaires Joseph C. Wilson IV, the ranking American diplomat in Baghdad.

“We’ll be in Geneva on the 9th,” Fitzwater said.

Bush initially proposed on Nov. 30 that Aziz visit him in Washington and Baker meet with Hussein in Baghdad, but the plan broke down when the two capitals could not agree on dates.

In Luxembourg on Friday, 12 European nations invited Aziz to their own meeting next Thursday, the day after he is to see Baker, raising the possibility that the Europeans’ contacts might range beyond the Persian Gulf crisis to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The United States, which has long opposed “linkage” of the gulf standoff to the Arab-Israeli problem, said contacts between Europe and Baghdad would not present a problem because the European position does not directly link Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The Baker-Aziz meeting was suggested Thursday by President Bush, who declared again his willingness to “go the extra mile for peace” and underlined American insistence that the talks would not involve negotiations.

“This offer is being made subject to the same conditions as my previous attempt,” Bush said. “No negotiations, no compromises, no attempts at face-saving and no rewards for aggression. What there will be if Iraq accepts this offer is simply and importantly an opportunity to resolve this crisis peacefully.”

Baker added: “We hope that Iraq picks up on this because this will be the last such proposal we will make.”

Friday’s acceptance by Baghdad does not necessarily signal any change in its position. The gap between the two sides is considerable, and the Geneva meeting may well achieve nothing.

In an interview Friday with Cable News Network, Ambassador Mohammed Mashat, who has just returned to Washington from a conclave of Iraqi envoys in Baghdad, said his government still rejects American and U.N. demands for an unconditional withdrawal from Kuwait.

“We look at the gulf crisis as one of the crises in the whole area,” he said. “In order to have a peaceful solution, you have to address the Palestinian problem, the Lebanese problem, you have to address the question of mass destructive weapons.”

Washington has consistently opposed the Iraqi diplomatic strategy of linking the gulf crisis to other Middle East problems since Hussein first proposed the formula on Aug. 12, 10 days after his troops invaded Kuwait.

Asked how Aziz would respond in Geneva when Baker demands an unconditional withdrawal, Mashat said: “Well, I hope this will not happen because this is in effect an ultimatum which we’ll refuse. You see, we have restated our position many times that we will not accept intimidation, threats or ultimatums. We are for peace.”

The ambassador blamed Washington for the deadlock on previously proposed dates and defended the invasion of Kuwait as a response to what he called a conspiracy by Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United States “to destroy the economy of Iraq.”

The first week of the year has brought a rush of peace-making efforts from Western and Arab countries as the U.N. deadline nears. But the Geneva talks--scheduled for a single day--promise to be the make-or-break forum in the war of nerves between Washington and Baghdad.

Since Bush’s original proposal more than a month ago, both sides have continued to pour reinforcements into the bristling war theater in and around Kuwait, and diplomatic contacts collapsed. When diplomat Wilson delivered the new American offer to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Thursday, it was his first meeting with Iraqi officials since Dec. 18.

The continuing peace efforts in other quarters, including Europe and a number of Arab countries, have put pressure on Washington and Baghdad to take the step toward face-to-face talks.

Publicly, both sides have stuck to their firm and confrontational positions.

In the United States, Bush has been faced with steady pressure from members of Congress, who reconvened on Friday, to explore the prospects for a political settlement in the explosive gulf region.

The potential for a catastrophic clash is in place. Since Hussein’s troops invaded and occupied Kuwait on Aug. 2, more than a million troops from the contending sides have moved into the potential battle area.

Pressure also mounted on Hussein’s autocratic regime, which has been increasingly strangled by the U.N. economic embargo and diplomatic isolation. With its oil exports blocked, the country has earned no hard-currency revenues for the past five months.

On Friday, before Baghdad announced its decision to send Aziz to Geneva, key world capitals prodded the stubborn Iraqi president to accept the offer.

U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar is scheduled to meet with Bush today to explore renewed efforts by his office for a political solution.

Meanwhile, Jordan’s King Hussein and Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi mounted Arab peace efforts over the past week.

But signs of preparations for war continued. Western press reports from Baghdad, for instance, quoted diplomatic sources as saying that Iraqi authorities had told foreign embassies to make plans to move their facilities to Ramadi, a city about 60 miles west of the capital. A New York Times report quoted the sources as saying Iraqi government offices would also be moved from the capital before Jan. 15.

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