HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- Anxiety over
US intent drives Saddam to seek new Arab allies
With the anti-terrorism cam-paign renewing suspicion of Iraq's weapons programme and raising the spectre of a US military campaign against Baghdad, Saddam Hussein is looking for new friends in the Arab world. This week Amr Moussa, the secretary-general of the Arab League, toured several Arab capitals, including Riyadh, carrying new "thoughts" by Mr Saddam aimed at reaching an Arab compromise over Iraq. Arab rulers, including those in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, are backing the efforts. Privately, however, Gulf officials say they suspect Mr Saddam's enlisting of the Arab League is aimed at buying time and thwarting any plans the US might devise to overthrow him. "What is motivating Saddam is fear of destruction; it's the wrong motivation if you want to win friends in the region," said an official in Riyadh. "He's trying to create momentum before the Arab summit and the perception of progress to delay what someone else might be contemplating." The Iraq-Kuwait dispute is likely to top the agenda at the summit in Beirut at the end of March. The issue dominated last year's gathering of Arab rulers in Amman. But despite frantic efforts by Jordan to persuade Iraq to agree to a resolution that would have called for a lifting of United Nations sanctions and provided Kuwait with Iraqi security guarantees, Mr Saddam rejected the compromise. The US has not reached a decision to attack Iraq in the second phase of its anti-terrorism campaign. Administration officials who had been advocating a military campaign to oust Mr Saddam are holding back amid opposition in Europe and the Arab world and concerns about the military capability of the exiled Iraqi opposition. The Iraqi leader may be willing to show more flexibility at this year's meeting in order to influence the debate in Washington. But his neighbours, who remain suspicious of his intentions, may also ask for greater concessions this time. Saudi Arabia is opposed to a US military attack on Iraq in the context of the war against terrorism. Its ban on US aircraft taking off from its territory to bomb Iraq has been a source of tension with the Pentagon. Periodic bombing of Iraq, argues Riyadh, has strengthened Mr Saddam's grip on power and angered Arab public opinion. But Arab and western diplomats say the Saudi government might be willing to back a US military campaign in the future if the US builds a consensus first at the UN Security Council and creates a more favourable environment in the Middle East.
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