SURPRISE: An Iraqi presidential guard peers through a gate at al-Sajoud, one of Saddams presidential palaces, before admitting U.N. inspectors
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Iraq's smiling facade cracked a bit after the palace visit. Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, known for his fiery belligerence, denounced the U.N. team as spies and accused the U.S. of sending it to provide "precise information for the coming aggression." But Saddam spoke extemporaneously on television the next day and urged "patience" in letting the inspectors do their work, "to keep our people out of harm's way." Ordinary Iraqis welcomed the inspections. "Let the inspectors do their work. They will find nothing, and then maybe the sanctions will be lifted," said Ali Ahmed, who was enjoying the 'Id holiday at an amusement park. Saddam may be gritting his teeth, but his strategy is to play for time and hope that inspections ultimately give him enough of a clean bill to break up any coalition ranged against him. U.S. officials believe he's unlikely to unravel the strong position the U.S. is building. "If he wants to win a p.r. battle here or there," says a State Department official, fine. "We're going to win the war."
So even as arms inspectors cruise pretty much where they want inside Iraq, the U.S. military is setting itself up all around the perimeter. Diplomats went to Turkey to negotiate for basing rights and got a half-yes. Chief of the U.S. Central Command, General Tommy Franks, flew to his forward command center in Qatar to play war games that could turn into combat overnight. An armada of a dozen ships steamed off to possible war stations, and Pentagon planners prepared to call up a first batch of reserves. One way or another, the U.S. insists, Saddam is going to be disarmed.
