Iraq Warns United States About ‘Hostile Policy’

Iraq warned the United States on Tuesday to drop its “hostile policy” toward Saddam Hussein if it hopes to resolve the standoff over U.N. inspections of presidential palaces.

While officials in Baghdad and Washington differed over whether U.N. weapons inspectors had the right to search Saddam’s many palaces, the teams completed their fourth day of searches at 12 industrial, agricultural and oil sites Tuesday, the Iraqi News Agency reported.

One team flew in a helicopter over a site outside the capital, the agency said, looking for suspicious activity on the ground. In the past, inspectors have accused the Iraqis of sneaking materials out the back even as inspectors entered a site.

The U.N. team says it has not tried to visit any of the sensitive areas, including the palaces - some of which include orchards, farms and warehouses - where the inspectors believe Saddam is hiding weapons, chemicals and documents.

Iraq has not interfered with the inspections, which resumed Saturday after a three-week break caused by Saddam’s decision Oct. 29 to expel American members of the team.

The Americans were tossed out Nov. 13, prompting the non-American inspectors to withdraw in protest. All inspectors returned Friday after Russia intervened and persuaded Saddam to take them back.

U.S. officials maintain that Iraq is blocking access to 63 sensitive sites. Iraq denied that Tuesday.

The state news agency quoted an unidentified information ministry spokesman as saying the inspectors were prevented from entering only three presidential sites - places that “represent symbols of national sovereignty.”

He said the incidents took place Sept. 29, Sept. 27, and Oct. 1.

However, Iraq has also said the palaces will remain off limits to the inspectors.

Saddam led a top-level meeting Tuesday to discuss Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz’s tour of four Arab nations to muster support for Iraq’s standoff with the United States.

Afterwards, the state news agency quoted an official spokesman as saying that no positive resolution could be achieved “if America does not review its hostile policy against Iraq and the Arab nation.”

Saddam has dozens of palaces around the country. Among the largest are the main presidential palace; a palace complex near the airport that includes a large farm and warehouses; and a sealed-off compound in Saddam’s home village 125 miles north of Baghdad.

After the 1991 Persian Gulf War - in which a U.S.-led coalition drove Iraqi troops from Kuwait - Saddam built dozens of smaller palaces around the country in residential areas. At least 10-15 of these palaces are in Baghdad, two of them on the Tigris River.

Iraq denies hiding weapons on palace grounds.