IRAQ . . . SADDAM FINDS KUWAIT GRAPES SOUR

Iraq said today it had dropped itsterritorial claim on Kuwait, which Baghdad has considered its 19th province since the days of the Ottoman Empire. (The British split the two countries in 1961, to Iraq's annoyance.) But the announcement didn't reassure Kuwaitis or attain Iraq's probable goal -- U.S. efforts to lift the crippling, three-year U.N. embargo. White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers called the news "positive" but warned that the U.S. would not help Iraq unless it backs up this announcement by also dismantling itsweapons program, releasing political prisoners and returning property seized from Kuwait.Post your opinion on theInternationalbulletin board.