World

Saddam's Latest Gambit

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

August 5, 1998 / 9:18 PM EDT / CBS

Ratcheting the latest dispute up another notch, Saddam Hussein has suspended cooperation with U.N. weapons inspectors, reports CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin.

The move may make it impossible to finish the job of accounting for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

However, Saddam stopped short of actually kicking the inspectors out, saying they would be allowed to continue monitoring sites where they have set up surveillance cameras. For the moment, the White House seems determined not to get worked up about it.

"We've heard this bluster before. We've seen this petulance before," said White House Spokesman P.J. Crowley.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan met Wednesday with Chief Weapons Inspector Richard Butler just back from Baghdad where talks broke down when Tariq Aziz demanded Butler announce that Iraq has gotten rid of its weapons of mass destruction.

"I said I can't do that without the evidence," said Butler. "I don't have a magic wand. It has to be based on evidence."

Saddam on Wednesday demanded that Butler be replaced, and that the headquarters of the inspection team be moved out of New York to get away from U.S. influence.

Saddam also wants the current team of inspectors "reformed," meaning its more aggressive members should be fired.

Everybody is tired of these disputes, and that's probably what Saddam is counting on -- that the U.N. will decide the inspections have become more trouble than they're worth and let Saddam at least part of the way off the hook.