Iraq conciliatory, defiant after Bush wins war vote

Iraq mingled words of conciliation with defiance on Saturday after the US Congress voted to authorise President George W. Bush to wage war o...

Iraq mingled words of conciliation with defiance on Saturday after the US Congress voted to authorise President George W. Bush to wage war on Baghdad.

An adviser to President Saddam Hussein sent a letter to UN weapons inspectors, the second this week, saying Iraq is ready to remove all obstacles to a return of inspectors after a nearly four-year break. ‘‘We assert our complete readiness once again to receive the advance team on Oct 19 as per our preliminary agreement with you and our readiness to resolve all issues that may block the road to our joint cooperation,’’ wrote Gen. Amir al-Saadi.

Show of support for Saddam

BAGHDAD: Iraq put the final touches on Sunday to preparations for a presidential referendum designed to show massive domestic support for President Saddam Hussein. The government wants Tuesday’s tightly controlled vote to show that the Iraqi people stand firmly behind Saddam.

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Some 11.5 million voters will answer a simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ for another seven-year term for Saddam in office. Saddam, 65, is the only candidate. (Reuters)

The new letter to chief UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix and Mohamed El-Baradei, head of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, acknowledged their desire for ‘‘unfettered access’’ to eight controversial palace sites of Saddam’s, but made no specific concession on the issue. The latest letter did suggest a new flexibility on allowing inspectors to interview Iraqis and to make flights over Iraqi territory.

But the Bush administration on Saturday dismissed the letter as a delaying tactic by Baghdad and repeated its call for a strong UN Security Council resolution ‘‘which puts sustained, unambiguous pressure on Iraq to fulfill its obligations.’’

The mood at a Baghdad religious meeting was far from conciliatory. Some 500 Iraqi Muslim clerics issued an edict urging Muslims everywhere to launch a holy war to ‘‘burn the earth under the feet’’ of the US if it attacked. Foreign Minister Naji Sabri briefed Iraqi’s Parliament ‘‘on the dimensions of the rude American threats to launch a new aggression’’. (Reuters)

Premji said that Wipro would partner with the Government "to find a lasting solution for Bengaluru's mobility challenges".

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