Reports from Paris say that President Jacques Chirac, fearing that intense U.S. diplomatic pressure is having its impact on the wavering votes in the Security Council, is privately urging Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to make a grand gesture. Chirac is proposing that the Iraqi leader convene a big news conference in Baghdad -- including the CNN, BBC, and al-Jazeera TV cameras -- and announce the dismantling of a headline-catching weapons system as a concession to the U.N. inspectors. The only problem seems to be Iraq's previous statements that it has no remaining weapons systems to hand over -- despite the small print of the 173-page UNMOVIC inspectors' report that Hans Blix failed to specify in his U.N. address Friday.
With unemployment up to 4.7 million and his economy stagnant, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has to give the speech of his life Friday to announce his new economic reform plans that threaten a collision course with the powerful labor unions. So why is he taking time off Wednesday evening to fly to London for a private dinner with Tony Blair, apparently intent on talking about Iraq, when the two men differ so strongly over Iraq and the second U.N. resolution? This is not one of those diplomatic engagements that have to be kept, like one of their regular daylong summits. British sources say the two men, horrified at the prospect of a lasting breach between the United States and its European allies, want to come up with a post-Iraq plan to get the Atlantic alliance back on track. The British think that the European Union should take over the humanitarian mission in Iraq and declare itself willing to join in the post-war reconstruction effort. Schroeder is expected to agree.
Interesting...[/quote]
