BAGHDAD (voa) – Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein says he accepted U.N. Security Council demands for Iraq to disarm in order to avoid a U.S. attack. In an open letter to the Iraqi parliament, President Saddam says he considered the parliament’s recommendation to reject the Security Council’s demands. But he says he chose to accept them because of what he called a U.S.-Zionist alliance to wage war on the Iraqi people.
President Saddam says he hopes that new U.N. weapons inspections will show that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction. The Iraqi leader’s letter, dated November 12, was read out in the parliament Saturday and also read by an announcer on Iraqi television. Earlier, the chief U.N. weapons inspector said that if Iraqi officials delay inspectors in their work for even 30 minutes, it would be a serious violation of Iraq’s obligations to the Security Council. Chief inspector Hans Blix made the comment Saturday, to the Le Monde newspaper in Paris, where he and top aides have stopped over on their way to Baghdad.
The inspectors arrive in the Iraqi capital Monday to prepare for the resumption of their search for weapons of mass destruction for the first time in four years. Mr. Blix has said the inspectors could begin inspecting sites as early as November 27.
Meanwhile, U.S. and British warplanes have bombed an Iraqi air-defense site after planes patrolling the southern no-fly zone were fired upon with missiles and artillery. Friday’s clash with Iraqi forces was the first since President Saddam accepted the Security Council resolution demanding Iraq give up its weapons of mass destruction.
The Bush administration believes Iraq’s firing at allied planes violates the resolution. Reports say that other permanent members of the Security Council do not share that view. But U.S. officials say they may report the incident to the Council as a breach of resolution requirements.
