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BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON, Feb 16: The United States and Britain considered giving diplomacy more time on Sunday in the face of resistance at the United Nations to their plans for war to disarm Iraq and vast weekend peace protests around the world.
Among more than six million people who marched in a wave of global protest not seen since the Vietnam War, some of the largest crowds were in countries whose leaders have echoed the hawkish stance taken by US President George W. Bush.
There was little sign that the demonstrations, capped by a rally in Sydney on Sunday, had put off pro-war leaders, who say Baghdad is hiding illegal weapons that pose a global threat.
Indeed Nato, its credibility rocked by a bitter internal row over Iraq, was working on a compromise that would allow it to prepare measures to protect Turkey in the event of a war.
But diplomatic splits persisted, complicating efforts by Washington and London to win UN backing for military action to disarm Iraq and oust President Saddam Hussein, who denies concealing banned weapons from UN inspectors.
And Turkey, which would be in the front line in any conflict, warned Washington not to expect immediate permission to deploy tens of thousands of troops on its territory.
France, which won applause on Friday at the UN Security Council by insisting inspectors needed more time to investigate Iraq, repeated its call on Sunday, drawing criticism from Washington which said Paris was easing the pressure on Saddam.
Babel, newspaper of Saddam’s eldest son Uday, said the protests and Friday’s relatively positive report by UN weapons inspectors meant United States had suffered a decisive defeat.
MORE TIME FOR DIPLOMACY: A senior British diplomatic source said the US was prepared to spend longer trying to bring key UN Security Council members round after a showdown on Friday at which there appeared to be no majority for military action.
“If that takes another couple of weeks, that time will have to be found,” the source said, stressing that there would have to be a defined deadline for the UN inspection process to produce results. “It’s got to be clearly time-limited.”
Many of the protesters who marched in 600 towns and cities worldwide on Saturday said they feared war with Baghdad would bring retaliation by followers of Osama, blamed for attacks on the United States that killed about 3,000 people in 2001.
Fuelling such fears, a website carried what it said was a tape of Osama made for Eid ul Azha.
“Regarding this Zionist Crusader war on the nation of Islam, it is the duty of Muslims to fight for the sake of God and to incite the faithful to fight the infidels,” said the recording, which sounded like previous recordings of the Al Qaeda leader.
US Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told ABC the tape had not been authenticated but its message was familiar. “The values of the West are anathema to these people,” he said.
French President Jacques Chirac told Time magazine the UN weapons inspectors should be given more time and resources to ensure the peaceful disarmament of Iraq, warning that a conflict could “create a large number of little (Osama) bin Ladens”.
But he left the door open to UN backing for military action. “If Iraq doesn’t cooperate and the inspectors say this isn’t working, it could be war,” he said in a lengthy interview.
The British diplomatic source said a French request for another ministerial meeting of the Security Council on March 14 might be acceptable if it resulted in a clear-cut decision. “But not if it’s just buying another four weeks.”
UN weapons inspectors took a close look on Sunday at Baghdad’s Al Samoud short-range missiles, found to exceed the range allowed under UN resolutions. The latest of these, in November, promised “serious consequences” if there was a breach.
Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said the United States was determined to attack Iraq even though UN weapons inspectors had not found any weapons of mass destruction.
“The US administration of evil is still beating the drums of war,” Ramadan said at the opening of a memorial at the al-Amiriyah shelter, where around 400 people died when it was bombed by US planes during the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait.
ARAB LEADERS MEET: Arab leaders, especially those whose countries host US troops, are anxious to limit popular backlash over a war against Iraq they might not be able to prevent.
Witnesses said riot police in Tunisia, a staunch ally of Washington, baton-charged anti-war demonstrators on Sunday, injuring at least 18, while in Oman, about 200 women held an unprecedented all-female demonstration. Analysts and diplomats saw little chance that an emergency meeting of the 22-member Arab League on Sunday would have much impact on the preparations for war.
Deep divisions remained at Nato, where France, Belgium and Germany have refused to back measures to protect Turkey in the event of war with Iraq for fear such a decision would imply war was inevitable. Belgium said talks on Sunday were “tough”.
In Geneva, humanitarian agencies and diplomats from nearly 30 key countries agreed after a meeting in Geneva that the world should “plan for the worst” if it came for a conflict.
INCLONCLUSIVE: A meeting of foreign ministers and representatives of the 22 Arab League countries ended early on Sunday without setting the date for an emergency Arab summit on the Iraq crisis.
“The date for the emergency summit was not fixed” at the preparatory meeting, held Saturday night prior to a full ministerial meeting, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri told journalists.
“Nothing has yet been decided,” he replied when asked whether the participants had laid down the positions they would take to back Iraq in the face of US threats of war.—Reuters/AFP
