Saddam May Find Refuge in Belarus :: Charter'97 :: News

The former Soviet republic of Belarus has emerged as a possible refuge for Saddam Hussein after American officials hinted that the Iraqi leader might be allowed to flee into exile to avert a U.S. assault on Baghdad. A visit to Iraq by a presidential delegation from Belarus last week coincided with a suggestion by U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that Mr. Saddam and his family could "leave the country." Mr. Rumsfeld said in a television interview: "If he doesn`t care to give up his weapons of mass destruction, then he`s got the choice of leaving."

As military preparations intensified with the mobilization of two more aircraft carrier battle groups and a 1,000-bed hospital ship, U.S. officials emphasized that no deal had been struck to allow Mr. Saddam to escape.
Mr. Rumsfeld`s remark may have been no more than a psychological gambit intended to stir confusion in Baghdad.
Yet the Belarus visit heightened American suspicion that Mr. Saddam might be making contingency plans for a last-minute dash.
While it remains far from certain that the Iraqi dictator would flee, Mr. Rumsfeld recently singled out Belarus as one of the few countries that might offer him sanctuary.
"If Saddam Hussein is in a corner, it is because he has put himself there," he told a congressional committee.
"One choice he has is to take his family and key leaders and seek asylum elsewhere. Surely one of the 180-plus countries would take his regime -- possibly Belarus."
The former Soviet republic has become a pariah state under the dictatorial rule of President Alexander Lukashenko and is suspected of violating United Nations sanctions against Iraq.
Libya, Algeria and Syria are also regarded as possible refuges, but these countries have been improving their relations with the West and Mr. Saddam might feel vulnerable there.
The speculation of exile comes as Iraq named 500 scientists who have worked on its banned weapons programs, amid growing signs that UN efforts to interrogate them could be blunted by Iraqi resistance.
One Iraqi scientist already interviewed by weapons inspectors openly scolded the UN for suggesting that his work was linked to a clandestine nuclear program.
"I don`t know anything about this," Kathim Mijbil, a metallurgist, told reporters.
"I am not interested in the nuclear program and I don`t know anything about that."
Mr. Mijbil said he spent two sleepless nights fretting about being wrongly accused of ties to Iraq`s nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programs.
"I didn`t sleep for two days because these things are not related to military, absolutely," Mr. Mijbil said. His statement forced the UN to retract its earlier claim.
The scientist`s public relations offensive highlighted the dilemma the UN faces as it comes under increasing pressure from the United States to spirit Iraq`s brain trust out of the country for private interviews.
Mr. Mijbil flatly rejected the idea of leaving the country to be interrogated. "How can an Iraqi man leave Iraq? How? I am an Iraqi man."
Mr. Mijbil said he was the victim of a smear campaign to tarnish his scientific reputation and spread lies about him.
"There is a big exaggeration in it," he said of the UN`s intense interest in his business that repairs aluminum pipes stored since 1987 in the open at Tu Al-Fukar factory. "I am very disturbed by this."
"Does cleaning an aluminum tube from corrosion with basic chemicals ... lead to a secret program?" he asked in Arabic.
The pipes were to be used for 88-millimetre short-range missiles, which are not banned by the UN, and are similar to Katyusha rockets.
In Iraq, United Nations weapons inspectors yesterday headed for a site that British intelligence officials have identified as a possible source of phosgene, a poison gas. The plant at al-Latifiya, near Baghdad, was bombed during the Gulf war, but is said to be operational again.
UN spokesman Hiro Ueki said Iraq`s list of scientists, ordered by chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix, included specialists in the nuclear, biological, and chemical fields and in its missile programs.
The list was a key demand under UN resolution 1441 to force Iraq to disarm peacefully or face the threat of war.
Iraq maintains that the U.S. plans to invade regardless of its co-operation with the UN inspectors and what evidence they may find concerning Iraq`s deadly arsenal.
Mr. Blix must report back to the UN Security Council by Jan. 27, 60 days after weapons inspections were resumed.
The speculation in Baghdad is that the war could start soon after that date.
But U.S. President George W. Bush said yesterday Iraq could yet avoid war if it destroyed its illegal weapons arsenal.
"The burden now is on Iraq`s dictator to disclose and destroy his arsenal of weapons," Mr. Bush said in a radio address looking forward to the new year.
"If he refuses (to yield) them for the sake of peace, the United States will lead a coalition to disarm the Iraqi regime and free the Iraqi people."
Baghdad, meanwhile, warned that it would teach the U.S. a lesson it would not forget if it invaded and occupied Iraq.
"He who ever attacks our country will lose," Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh told a solidarity conference in Baghdad when he announced Iraqis would receive three months of food rations in anticipation of a war.
"We will fight from village to village, from city to city and from street to street in every city. The enemy will be taught an unforgettable lesson if he tries to attack."

December 29, 2002