Iraq Tries Negotiation

It appears the United Nations is expecting a difficult meeting between Secretary-General Kofi Annan and a delegation led by Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri.

The original one-meeting format for Thursday has been changed to two sessions with a break.

"The Secretary-General will lay out his position, the Iraqis will lay out theirs, there will be discussion, there will be a break for reflection - possibly for consultation with Baghdad - and then back for a second session," UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said before the meeting.

But even with more hours of talks, few observers expected a "yes" or "no" answer from the Iraqi delegation, which requested the meeting.

At best, diplomats say they hope Sabri will express a willingness to implement key parts of UN resolutions governing banned weapons, and then set up further meetings to discuss them in more detail.

Down to business

Asked about Annan's agenda for the meeting at UN headquarters in New York, Eckhard said. "As far as the Secretary-General is concerned, they'll be talking about UN resolutions, and his emphasis will be implementation, implementation, implementation."

These issues could be the determining factor in US threats to take its "war on terror" to Iraq. Such an armed confrontation would not only pinch Iran between two theaters of operations – Afghanistan and Iraq – but complicate conflict in the Middle East.

"I wouldn't want to see a widening conflict in the region," Annan told reporters as he entered the meeting. "I think we have our hands full with the tragedy that is going on there already."

The head of the UN Iraqi inspection commission, Hans Blix, is also expected to attend the meetings.

No action since 1998

UN inspectors left Iraq in mid-December 1998. They have not been allowed to return since. The arms experts now want access to determine whether Iraq has abandoned or continued to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

Blix and other experts believe Iraq had nearly accounted for its nuclear materials and ballistic missiles when the teams left in 1998. But gaps remained in accounting for chemical and biological weapons materials.

US wants talks brief and deadlocked

The talks at the UN take place against heightened tensions since US President George W. Bush made Iraq the key element of his "axis of evil" State of the Union speech in January. He demanded Baghdad accept UN inspectors or face the consequences.

Washington believes Iraq has diverted about 1,000 trucks, imported from Russia under the UN humanitarian program since last July, that could be used for military purposes, including launching missiles.

The Bush administration, which at the same time is considering ways to topple President Saddam Hussein, hopes the talks will be brief and direct and that Annan has little room to negotiation, diplomats said.

But several UN officials believe the perceived threat of an American attack was taken as a real one, and in part accounted for the meeting requested by Iraq.