WASHINGTON, Feb 6: President Clinton has sent 2,200 marines on warships to the Persian Gulf to strengthen the already formidable US military presence in the region, even as key foreign countries -- Russia, France and China -- stepped up their resistance to the use of force against Iraq.In sharp contrast, he faces a strong pressure from the Republican-led Congress to mount an air campaign large enough to topple Saddam Hussein's regime.
Caught between counter pulls, Clinton said several times in the last 24 hours that he would prefer a peaceful solution to the confrontation with Iraq over the UN-mandated inspection of its weapons sites.
As consultations continued in Baghdad, there were a few faint hints that a diplomatic solutions might still be possible, says the Washington Post, quoting French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine who said ``One can say that there are the first signs of movement.''
He said the Iraqis told a French envoy in Baghdad that eight so-called presidential sites that Iraq has putoff-limits to UN weapons inspectors ``could be either inspected or visited -- there is a discussion on terms and on the practical consequences.''
France, Turkey, the Arab League and Russia, which oppose the use of force against Iraq, have all sent representatives to Baghdad this week to press Hussein to allow the weapons inspection teams to resume their work unhindered as the UN Security Council and the United States insist.
Meanwhile, Russian President Boris Yeltsin has said that ``peak of the Iraqi crisis is over''.
``The turn of events in Iraq now is very important. I am following the situation practically round-the-clock,'' Russian news agency `Ria-Novosti' quoted Yeltsin as saying in Moscow. In a telephonic talk with Clinton last night Yeltsin reiterated that the exercise of a military option by his country against Iraq would lead to World War III. Earlier, he said it was too early to say ``firmly and confidently'' that everything concerning the Iraqi situation was in order.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
