Relief greets Iraqi acceptance of UN resolution

Baghdad/Washington (Agencies): Weapons inspectors prepared on Thursday to return to Iraq after Baghdad reluctantly accepted United Nations demands, and neighboring states let out a sigh of relief in the hope the region might escape war.

Iraq's most influential newspaper, controlled by President Saddam Hussein's eldest son Uday, said however the threat of conflict was far from over.

"Our allies and brothers should realize that the problem with the American administration and its ally Britain is not over. Perhaps it is resuming again," Babel newspaper said.

It said Iraq's compliance with a UN resolution calling for a tough new inspection regime reflected its goodwill, adding it should be rewarded by the lifting of the sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

The paper reiterated Iraq's repeated denial that it has any weapons of mass destruction for the inspectors to discover.

That absolute denial, if maintained, could be taken by Washington as justification for waging war. The resolution calls on Iraq to give the UN "full, accurate and complete" details of weapons programs by Dec. 8.

An advance party of UN technicians is scheduled to arrive in Baghdad on Monday to prepare for inspections, which are not expected to begin for another week or two. The group will be accompanied by chief UN arms inspector Hans Blix and his counterpart from the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei.

Inspectors were withdrawn in December 1998, the eve of a U.S.-British bombing campaign, after saying Iraq was obstructing their work.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab monarchies, military allies of the United States but nervous that an unpopular new war might unleash waves of unrest throughout the whole region, welcomed Iraq's announcement.

"Thank God Iraq has accepted... We hope Iraq will cooperate with the United Nations' envoys," Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef told a Saudi newspaper.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad welcomed Iraq's move as positive, adding that it "distances the specter of war from the region".

U.S. President George W. Bush said Saddam had few options. "If he chooses not to disarm, we will disarm him," he said.

Iraq said on Thursday it had once more shown goodwill by swallowing the bitter pill of UN disarmament Resolution 1441, and called on China, France and Russia to work towards lifting the international embargo.

"By accepting to deal with Resolution 1441, Iraq has proven its goodwill ... and confirmed that our country is free of weapons of mass destruction," wrote the influential Babel newspaper, which is run by President Saddam Hussein's elder son, Uday.

Saad Qassem Hammudi, a senior member of the ruling Baath party, told AFP that the Iraqi leadership had shown "great responsibility toward its people and their security in the face of an evil US, plan of massacres and destruction.

"Acceptance of this loaded resolution makes it incumbent on the international community to grant Iraq its rights under relevant Security Council resolutions, notably paragraph 22 of Resolution 687 concerning the lifting of the embargo."

However, Hammudi recommended "prudence and vigilance in the face of attempts by the U.S.-Zionist coalition to use inspections provocatively to incite crises and justify an attack."

Babel was the only paper to comment on Baghdad's announcement late Wednesday that it would "deal with" the resolution, which imposes harsh inspection terms on Iraq.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair used an interview with an Arabic-language international radio station on Thursday to tell Iraqis directly that the conflict with Saddam is about disarmament, not oil or Islam.

"The prime minister took the opportunity to speak directly to Saddam, to the Iraqi people and the wider Arab world," the spokesman told reporters after Blair was interviewed by Radio Monte Carlo.