Moussa - Clinton - Blair on Iraq

Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa will head tomorrow for an unexpected visit to Morocco and France that will last for 2 days. Moussa will meet with high-level officials to discuss the suggested diplomatic solution for defusing the Iraqi crisis with the United Nations.

Moussa reaffirmed that Egypt is greatly concerned with avoiding the military solution in the crisis.

Moussa's trip comes at a time when the US has eased somewhat its threats to use force against Iraq, after Russian President Yeltsin warned that military action could lead to a world war, and that military use is not an option. In a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, US President Clinton stressed that a diplomatic solution to the crisis is the "best" way to deal with the situation, while reaffirming that the US will take military action if a diplomatic solution cannot be reached.

Clinton added "I will continue to talk to President Yeltsin and (French President) Chirac", and that "I don't understand the sorts of circumstance that would lead for that development," referring to Yeltsin's recent comments about the start of a world war should the US proceed with military attacks on Iraq.

Prime Minister Blair backed Clinton's position, saying, "Of course we want a diplomatic solution," but that it's hard to envision a successful diplomatic solution without at least the threat of force to back up diplomatic efforts, as "experience has shown" necessary. Blair said that documents listing the successes of the UN weapons inspectors and incidents of Iraqi obstruction of the searches had been published in Britain. This is one of three points that British Prime Minister stressed as necessary for strengthening public support for possible military strikes against Iraq, referring to it as part of "educating our public."

Blair also said that Britain is sending 8 "Tornado" military aircraft to Kuwait with the backing of the Kuwaiti government. The planes are to arrive in two to three days.

Blair said the goal of the potential attacks would be to ensure that the UN inspectors can do their jobs without interference and, if that fails, to eliminate Iraq's capability to make weapons of mass destruction. US President Clinton said yesterday that killing President Hussein would not be an objective, should attacks be launched. Clinton included in his reasoning why Iraq weapons of mass destruction must be eliminated preventing attacks on Iraq's neighbors and "the danger this [the weapons] would present to the interests of the United States."

Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said that all the recent Egyptian communications with Iraq, France, Russia and United States concentrated on discussing ways of ending this crisis. He also said he had submitted a report to President Hosni Mubarak about the results of his meetings with the French Foreign Ministry's secretary-general, who visited Cairo after talks in Baghdad.

Moussa will deliver a message to Morocco's King Hassan II about current regional developments concerning the Iraq crisis. Moussa said he'll head to France after Morocco to hold talks with his French counterpart, where France along with the Russians are involved in intense negotiations with the Iraqis to find a solution to this latest crisis.

Russia has reportedly criticized UN inspection team leader Richard Butler, at yesterday's Security Council meeting, for not providing the UN Security Council with accurate reports about his inspection results in Iraq.