Since March 1996, inspectors have visited 63 sites where they believed the Iraqis were hiding contraband, Charles Duelfer, the deputy chief weapons inspector, said recently. Inspectors were delayed from entering 38 of the sites and flatly denied access to 14 others in the name of national security. The United States increasingly is threatening to resort to military force to end the Iraqi defiance. Congress worked yesterday on a resolution authorizing President Clinton to launch air attacks, and U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson traveled the world seeking support from fellow U.N. Security Council member-nations. Defense Secretary William Cohen is to meet with his counterparts in Russia and the Gulf region next week.
Stops are to include Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain.
He also will meet U.S. forces based in the Gulf, officials said. Hoping to avert attack, the Arab League's secretary-general and Turkey's foreign minister arrived in Baghdad, joining envoys from Russia and France in pressing Iraqi leaders for a peaceful solution. Quoting unidentified sources, CNN said that Iraq was offering to allow U.N. inspectors access to eight disputed sites for about a month. CNN said the Iraqi proposal called for each of the 15 members of the Security Council to appoint five inspectors. The 21 countries represented on the U.N. Special Commission, which oversees inspections, would then each appoint two more.