SIGHTINGS


 
Gulf Arabs Welcome Iraq
Deal - Wary Of U.S. Attack
2-23-98


DUBAI, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Gulf Arab newspapers on Monday welcomed the deal over Iraq weapons inspections and warned the United States against going ahead with a military strike. Most papers ran headlines announcing the success of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in reaching a deal with Iraq that looked set to defuse the threat of war. They were written before Annan and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz signed an agreement which Annan said he would put before the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday.
 
Most editorials voiced concern that the United States would still go ahead with a military strike. ``The international community must be breathing a little easier last night to hear the news from Baghdad...But the question remains whether U.S. and British military strikes against Iraq could be averted,'' said Qatar's Gulf Times.
 
``...Any rejection of the agreement will surely invite more protests, particularly in the Arab world, and deal a blow to the endangered Mideast peace process,'' it added. Qatar's al-Raya said: ``Annan's success confirms that dialogue and diplomacy are the best way to settle conflict and that the presence of the United States should remain within the corridors of the United Nations....
 
``Clinton should not be putting the final touches for a war at a time when Annan is announcing he is about to succeed.'' It said the crisis had revealed that ``Clinton has a narrow view of the region and his dream to escape Monica has plunged him and his administration into a predicament whose effects might be more negative than sex scandals in Washington,'' a reference to allegations, denied by Clinton, that he had a sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Annan said he thought the agreement with Iraq ending the dispute over weapons inspections would be acceptable to members of the Security Council.
 
``In my view, the terms of this agreement, which have been concluded in writing, are acceptable and remove a major obstacle to the full implementation of relevant Security Council resolutions,'' he told a news conference. The United States had threatened air strikes if Iraq did not give U.N. weapons inspectors free access to all sites and has said it reserved the right to act unilaterally if Annan's deal failed to meet its demands.
 
It said there were no immediate plans to reduce the U.S. military presence in the Gulf. Gulf Arab states, which took part in the U.S.-led military alliance that ended Iraq's occupation of Kuwait in 1991, had this time expressed opposition to a U.S. military strike on Baghdad and said they wanted to see a peaceful end to the crisis.
 
The United Arab Emirates' Gulf News daily said: ``With Annan reported to have reached an agreement to defuse the crisis, it remains to be seen whether Washington will put its war preparations on hold. The U.S. claims that force will be used only as a last resort but its actions thus far reveal otherwise. ``The U.S. must understand that it cannot rise to the defence of U.N. resolutions only to act unilaterally.''
 
Qatar's Asharq newspaper said: ``It is early to paint a rosy picture for the visit by the U.N. secretary-general...'' It expressed fears the United States might ``ignore Annan's success and Iraq's cooperation and commit what could not be accepted or justified.''
 
It urged the United States administration to deal ``with an open mind with this serious crisis and avoid any miscalculation that might lead to a disaster.'' In Bahrain, the Gulf Daily News said: ``America's military industrial complex is an empire founded by war which can only nourish and maintain itself through war.'' ^REUTERS@


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