by Christopher S. Wren
New York Times
Febraury 11, 1998
Sounding a conciliatory note, Secretary General Kofi Annan said today that "we should not insist on humiliating" Saddam Hussein and urged all parties to be more flexible in finding a peaceful solution to the Iraq crisis. Mr. Annan's appeal, made in a BBC interview, put the Secretary General at variance with the United States and Britain. They insist that Iraq risks a military attack if it does not give United Nations inspectors unlimited access to all sites suspected of harboring chemical or biological weapons and the means to make them.
Speaking with reporters today, Mr. Annan said, "I would say we are at a very critical stage and the search for a diplomatic solution continues, and I think we should continue until we find it." Fred Eckhard, the Secretary General's spokesman, indicated that Mr. Annan was talking to all the parties, including Russia, France and the Arab League, who have been discussing ways to forestall a military strike. "He hopes to weave those strands together into a package that would be acceptable to the Council as a whole, as a basis for discussions with the Iraqi Government, should the Council ask him to undertake such a mission," Mr. Eckhard said.
Russia and some other Security Council members have urged Mr. Annan to go to Baghdad to negotiate. He has made clear that he does not want to go without the implicit consent of all 15 members. Of the five permanent members, the United States and Britain support military action as a last resort, while China, France and Russia oppose it. One official said that Mr. Annan has raised the same concerns with Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright. Washington's objection is that virtually every proposal floated so far would weaken the United Nations Special Commission, which was created to find and dismantle Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The proposals would limit the frequency or scope of inspections or change the composition of inspection teams to make them more palatable to Iraq. Mr. Annan said a solution would not be found if both sides stuck to their public positions. "I appeal for that kind of courage, that kind of wisdom that will allow us to make the kinds of judgments that will allow us to get out of this," he said.
As Mr. Annan sounded his strongest reservations yet about a military option, British diplomats circulated a document about a chemical weapon hitherto unmentioned publicly by United Nations inspectors. The British Ministry of Defense said Iraq may have possessed the substance, designated Agent 15 in large quantities at the time of the gulf war, though Britain had no evidence it was used. The weapon was described as incapacitating victims through disorientation, visual hallucinations, loss of coordination and stupor. The report was prepared for the Defense Minister, George Robertson, who said it was based on intelligence that was believed to be reliable. Mr. Robertson said that the Defense Ministry became aware in August 1995 that Iraq had been carrying out laboratory research, and that it had indications late last year that Iraq had large stocks of Agent 15.
