MILLIYET- Columnist Sami Kohen writes about the latest developments on the Iraq issue. A summary of his column is as follows:
Six Middle Eastern nations are meeting in Istanbul today to discuss ways to avert a US-led war on Iraq. This summit is a major step towards a peaceful solution to the current crisis.
Will this regional initiative be successful?
The foreign ministers of Iraq's neighbors Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Egypt are all aware that they have undertaken a very difficult, almost impossible, mission.
These six countries are deeply concerned about the impact of a war on both their economies and regional stability. Their common goal is to reach a peaceful solution without resorting to war, a prospect which carries the threat of destabilizing the region.
But how? What will their strategy be? The attendees of the summit have different views on this issue. The content of the common declaration to be issued after the summit is still unclear and likely to cause further friction among these countries.
What kind of decisions should we expect from this summit? Will the Bush administration or Saddam Hussein take its decisions seriously? Won’t Saddam say, ‘I’m already doing whatever the UN wants, what the hell else do you expect’? Is Bush, whose ambition to oust Saddam is well known, likely to change his mind?
Taking into consideration recent remarks from both sides, I have serious doubts that Bush and Saddam will take this summit seriously. For example, Saddam recently pledged to offer UN monitors more help in their search for evidence of weapons of mass destruction and accepted a 10-point statement issued after UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix’s visit to Iraq last weekend. However, the US has zero trust in Saddam. The world has seen how determined the Bush administration is to attack Iraq.
Here are the rules of the game currently being played by Bush and Saddam:
Saddam is trying to gain time by employing a number of tactics. He seems to be doing whatever the UN demands of him and wants to help foment the anti-war movement. If he can gain another month in the meantime, he hopes that the US might be forced to put off a military operation.
Meanwhile, Bush is planning to attack Iraq at the end of February. He gives no credence to Saddam’s words. He steadfastly believes that Saddam’s regime should be ended and a democracy put in its place.
In the midst of such an atmosphere, what are the Istanbul summit’s chances of success?
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION