U.N. Won’t Slap Iraq Over Flight To Mecca

In a setback for the United States, the Security Council issued a statement Wednesday that did not condemn Iraq for violating sanctions by flying a planeload of Muslims to Saudi Arabia last week without U.N. permission. The passengers were making a pilgrimage to Mecca.

After four days of tortuous diplomacy, the Security Council issued a unanimous statement that failed to say whether the flight violated sanctions or deliver even the mildest rebuke to Iraq after China and Egypt, with varying degrees of support from Russia and France, took a firm stand against criticizing Baghdad.

President Saddam Hussein issued a defiant statement in Baghdad on Monday saying Iraq had only “exercised its inherent right to use its civilian aircraft,” calling America’s position “illegal, tendentious and arbitrary” and warning that he reserves the right to fly planes again.