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The Standoff with Iraq

Iraq lashes out at chief U.N. weapons inspector

Al-Sahhaf

Al-Sahhaf speaks out against Butler: "Shocked by outrageous statement ..." AIFF or WAV (323K / 30 sec. audio) "... this man should be reprimanded" AIFF or WAV (357 K / 31 sec. audio)

Moscow sends letter to Hussein

January 28, 1998
Web posted at: 7:07 p.m. EST (0007 GMT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- As a Russian envoy delivered a message to Iraq on Wednesday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf accused chief U.N. weapons inspector Richard Butler of overstepping his inspection mandate and said Iraq may complain to the World Court.

Speaking at a news conference, al-Sahhaf said Iraq was "shocked" by Butler's allegations -- reported in Tuesday's New York Times -- that Iraq had enough biological weapons "to blow away Tel Aviv."

"Mr. Butler is not a neutral expert. He is biased and blindly committing mistakes, deadly mistakes.

Al-Sahhaf said Iraq had asked U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan "for him to be punished."

The foreign minister said Butler had clearly gone beyond his U.N. duty of leading international inspections aimed at ridding Iraq of any weapons of mass destruction. Iraq must do this before the U.N. Security Council will lift economic sanctions imposed after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

The latest standoff was caused when Iraq refused to grant U.N. weapons inspectors access to certain cites such as presidential palaces. Iraq maintains it is complying with all U.N. resolutions on the issue.

"We think this crisis has been fabricated by the United States of America," al-Sahhaf said.

France, Russia want diplomacy

Meanwhile, al-Sahhaf said Russian envoy Viktor Posuvalyuk had delivered a letter to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from President Boris Yeltsin.

The letter may be aimed at trying to defuse the crisis over the inspections, but no details were officially released about its contents. Al-Sahhaf merely said it dealt "with the current tense situation" created by the "U.S. military aggression" against Baghdad.

Also on Wednesday, Russia and France repeated their contentions that, while Iraq must comply with the inspections as part of the Gulf War cease-fire resolutions, military force will not solve the inspection problems.

"Our positions are close. France and Russia (agree) on the necessity of doing everything to ensure the situation is stable ... and that Iraq respects the demands of the pertinent resolutions in order to find a solution that will not upset stability," Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov said after talks with his French counterpart Hubert Vedrine and French President Jacques Chirac.

"Resorting to force is not desirable in the current situation, and would not solve the problems we are confronted with," Vedrine told reporters.

Vedrine also criticized Butler for his comments in the Times.

"This is not exactly what emerges from the reports of the (U.N. weapons inspection) commission, and I wonder whether he is not overstepping his prerogatives," Vedrine said.

Region still tense

On Wednesday, a key Iraqi newspaper accused the U.S. Congress of pushing President Clinton to attack Iraq.

"When Congress members encourage Clinton to attack Iraq, they actually are attempting to escape their troubles by blaming them on others," reported Babil, a daily newspaper owned by Hussein's son Odai.

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Clinton said: "I know I speak for everyone in this chamber, Republican and Democrats, when I say to Saddam Hussein: You cannot defy the will of the world."

The United States has never ruled out military force as a possibility in the latest Iraqi crisis. Washington has significantly beefed up its military presence in the Gulf region and has been working out possible attack plans.

In an effort to reach an international consensus on options in Iraq, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was traveling to Europe on Wednesday to meet with the British, French and Russian foreign ministers to rally support for a possible use of military force.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Bill Richardson was expected to travel later this week to capitals of U.N. Security Council member states to gather support for the U.S. position on Iraq.

Of the five permanent Security Council members, France, Russia and China are opposed to the use of force against Iraq, while Britain and the United States are taking a tougher stance.

Correspondent Peter Arnett, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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