U.S. warns France over Iraq stance

The United States fired a diplomatic warning shot across France's bows yesterday in its struggle to win United Nations backing for a war against Iraq.

After France led a new initiative to put off a conflict, the U.S. ambassador to Paris Howard Leach said his country would consider "very unfriendly" any French veto in the UN of a new U.S.-British resolution designed to authorise military action.

In Washington, U.S. President George W. Bush said that UN approval of the resolution was not essential and only Iraq could avert conflict by fully disarming. Asked by reporters what it would take to avert a war, Bush said, "full disarmament."

Bush also said that Iraqi leaders and generals who "take innocent life" or destroy vital infrastructure in the event of military action will be tried as war criminals.

Meanwhile, a fire broke out at an oil well in northern Iraq but the government said that it was not due to sabotage.

Chief inspector Hans Blix said yesterday Baghdad disclosed it had found documents relating to the disposal of weapons of mass destruction in 1991 and to an R-400 bomb.

Blix said the disclosures were "positive" and needed to be explored further.

In Kuala Lumpur, the UAE urged Iraq to pursue its cooperation with UN inspectors to avoid a war.

At the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammed Al Sharqi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Fujairah, called for finding a peaceful solution to the crisis as per UN Security Council resolutions.

Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan told the summit that UN inspections already have confirmed it has disarmed.

In Cairo, Arab League chief Amr Moussa said the organisation has received a letter from Iraq confirming its attendance of an Arab summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh on Saturday.

In Kuwait, interior minister Sheikh Mohammad Khaled Al Sabah accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussain of backing "terrorist" acts in the state, which has witnessed a series of attacks on Americans.

The Turkish government, meanwhile, asked parliament to allow 62,000 U.S. troops to use the country as a springboard for a possible attack on Iraq, but faced growing dissent ahead of a parliamentary vote on the deployment.

In a motion sent to parliament, the government also requested a permission to dispatch its own forces to northern Iraq.

In Washington, the U.S. military said warplanes taking part in U.S.-British patrols attacked five missile sites in northern and southern Iraq.

Iraqi authorities yesterday held up the airing of an interview that Saddam gave to CBS television network in which he declared that Iraq has the right to keep missiles the UN wants destroyed.
Editorial comment