Iraqi Prospect Organisation - Print this - News Analysis: February 9, 2003

By Yasser Alaskary
February 9, 2003

Very little progress was achieved in UN's last ditch talks with Saddam's regime. Having gone to Iraq with the hope for a drastic change in Saddam's attitude, UN weapons chiefs failed to convince the Iraqi regime to reach an acceptable level of cooperation. Saddam has allowed some private interviews, but no progress was achieved on interviews outside Iraq and on the use of U-2 planes.

After Powell's speech at the UN, more Security Council members are moving towards the US/ UK position on Saddam. The US reaffirms its readiness to back a new SC resolution, but at the same time, Bush warns that the UN is facing "a moment of truth". Russia and Japan are now saying that a second resolution is not needed to approve military action if Saddam does not cooperate.

Colin Powell confirms that the issue is Iraq's compliance and more inspections can't solve it. Turkey has agreed to host 38,000 American troops as part of preparations for war on Saddam. The UK says that Saddam has only days to change his mind.