Iraq Ready for Talks on Arms Inspections

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri is scheduled to begin talks today at the United Nations aimed at reaching an agreement to allow weapons inspectors back into his country--and, from the Iraqis’ perspective, make it a bit harder for the United States to attack their land.

But Iraqis insist that they will not bow to threats and will allow inspectors to return only as part of a comprehensive deal to end more than 11 years of economic sanctions and restore their nation’s territorial integrity. The United States and Britain still enforce “no-fly” zones over northern and southern Iraq and regularly report airstrikes against Iraqi military targets. “Iraq is saying the issue is not inspections teams,” said A.K. Hashimi, an advisor to the government of President Saddam Hussein. “It is the issue of sanctions and everything all together. If they say, ‘Inspectors come back, then we will discuss the other issues,’ we say no.”

Teams Evacuated in 1998

Before U.S. Airstrikes

The issue of weapons inspectors returning to Iraq has been in limbo since December 1998, when teams were evacuated ahead of U.S. airstrikes designed to force greater Iraqi compliance. Iraq has since refused to let them return. But with Washington talking about using its military might to oust Hussein from power as part of the U.S. war on global terrorism, the issue has become increasingly important to both sides.

If Iraq refuses to let the inspectors in, the U.S. could use the move as a pretext for military strikes. If Iraq lets them in, the U.S. has one less issue to settle.

“I think they [the Iraqis] might very well accept the return of inspection teams--but they will demand some kind of time limit,” said Wamidh Nadhmi, 60, a political science lecturer at the University of Baghdad. “I don’t think they can refuse.”

Iraq was saddled with international economic sanctions after it invaded Kuwait in 1990. After its defeat by a U.S.-led coalition during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Iraq was forced to allow in teams of inspectors.

Their goal was to determine whether Hussein’s regime had destroyed all of its weapons of mass destruction and its ability to produce more. Sanctions would be removed when inspectors certified that their job was completed.

The United States and Britain insist that Iraq obstructed the inspectors, and Iraq insists that the West used the issue as an excuse to keep the sanctions in place, year after year. “You know what the issue is,” Hashimi said. “They want to change the system of government in Iraq.”

This week, Iraq is celebrating Hussein’s 65th birthday with parades, demonstrations and exhibitions. New statues of the president are going up all over Baghdad, the capital. The celebration goes beyond paying homage to what is being called here the president’s “auspicious birthday.” It’s part of the brave face Iraq is trying to present to the world.

The United States talks about invading, and this impoverished country--which can’t even supply all of its people with clean drinking water--talks about military victory. Its people say they are resigned to a military strike no matter what they do.

“I think you know very well that Iraq with its civilization, Iraq with its leadership, brave and wise, Iraq with its own inherent capabilities, it will know how to defend itself and defeat the aggressor for sure as it has done before,” Iraqi Oil Minister Amir Rashid Mohammed Ubaydi said at a recent news briefing.

But officials here also know that Iraq is just getting by. Life is better than it has been in years, but that is still pretty tough. A U.N.-approved “oil for food” program--which allows Iraq to sell oil despite the sanctions, with the proceeds used to feed its people--is designed to help meet basic nutritional needs, not to redevelop the country.

The sanctions have begun to break down, and in Baghdad a sort of middle class has reemerged that has benefited from smuggling operations. But teachers still earn about $5 a month. Government engineers get paid maybe $15 a month. Yet it costs $2 to buy a chicken in the market.

Most Iraqis survive on free food distributed by nongovernmental organizations, with the Middle Eastern nation’s 24 million people getting monthly food baskets with $24.50 worth of staples.

A Western attack could easily send Iraq back into a tailspin.

“If suddenly, for one reason or another, the country, or a pocket of the country, doesn’t have access to this food basket for some time, we can have a big problem,” said Carel de Rooy, the UNICEF representative in Iraq.

Iraq Seeks Allies, but Knows It Is Alone

The regime knows this, and though it has put forth a stiff upper lip, it also has been trying to insulate itself from a military attack by seeking allies in the region. But in the end, Iraq knows that it is alone, that the streets of the Arab world might ignite if it is attacked, but that Arab governments are not about to come to its rescue, at least not with troops.

Even Russia, which has been a close ally and is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has said weapons inspectors must be allowed back.

“The world community should be absolutely sure that mass-destruction weapons cannot be produced on the territory of Iraq,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying Monday. “Monitoring should be resumed on the Iraqi territory.”

With this as the backdrop, a defiant yet nervous Iraq looks to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to help craft a compromise during meetings with Foreign Minister Sabri, amid worries about the American stance.

“They don’t like my president, that’s their problem,” Hashimi said. “And when they don’t like him, I love him more.”