Envoy Says Iraq Ready To Negotiate

Iraq is ready to negotiate with the United States at any level to restore relations to a “sound and solid” basis, a member of Saddam Hussein’s inner circle said in remarks published Wednesday.

Barzan al-Tikriti, Saddam’s half-brother and ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, told the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper that Iraq hoped President Clinton would show “clarity and seriousness” in his dealings with Baghdad during his second term in office.

Tikriti, widely thought to be in charge of Iraq’s intelligence-gathering abroad, warned that Saddam could lash out if he lost hope that crippling U.N. sanctions imposed after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait would be lifted.