Dina Ezzat looks at the aims of a high level Arab delegation to Iraq Tomorrow an Arab delegation of foreign ministers and the secretary-general of the Arab League will be meeting with top Iraqi officials to look at ways of using the world's anti-war sentiment to work out a peaceful settlement to the Iraq crisis. The meeting comes amid intense American military and diplomatic pressure to go to war, with or without a UN Security Council resolution. Some are even expecting the war to be launched during the last week of this month and argue that it is pointless for this delegation to go to Baghdad. In the view of several political commentators war is just around the corner and, short of convincing the Iraqi president to take up an offer of going into exile, there is little anyone can do to stop it. "The issue of exile is not on the agenda of these talks. There are all sorts of rumours being circulated but exile is one issue that is certainly not going to be brought up by this delegation," commented Hesham Yousef, official spokesman for Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa. "The secretary general has made it very clear to several parties that he is not prepared to play the exile game. He simply believes that it is not in the interest of the Arab League to pursue a line that is inconsistent with its charter." Moreover, Arab diplomats argue that overt and covert efforts made to Baghdad to examine any possibility of Saddam Hussein relinquishing power have been flatly rejected. "So there is no point for this committee to approach Saddam on something that has been totally rejected by him," commented one Arab diplomatic source. Together with Moussa, the Arab delegation consists of five foreign ministers, including the foreign ministers of the Arab Troika: Mohamed Bin Mubarak of Bahrain, current chair of the Arab summit, Mahmoud Hamoud of Lebanon, former chair of the Arab summit and Al-Habib Bin Yehiyah of Tunis, the next chair of the Arab summit. The delegation also includes Ahmed Maher, Egyptian foreign minister and Farouq Al-Sharaa his Syrian counterpart, whose country currently holds a non-permanent seat on the Security Council. The delegation was established at the recent Arab summit which took place in Egypt on 1 March, under Bahrain's presidency. The mandate of the committee, according to the Arab summit resolution, is to communicate with the international community on Iraq-related issues and to consult with Iraq on these issues. Late last week, the delegation was in New York, where it took part in the open Security Council session on Iraq. The delegation also held extensive meetings with foreign ministers of the permanent and non-permanent members of the Security Council. Informed sources told Al-Ahram Weekly that the outcome of these talks is not irreversibly negative. "Yes, the Americans seem stubbornly adamant to go to war at any cost but the French, the Russians, and others are seriously opposed to this war and are willing to walk the extra mile to stop it," said one diplomat, who was in New York. He added, "the very fact that the Americans and the British had to miss the planned Tuesday vote for their draft resolution for a 17 March ultimatum to Baghdad is a clear sign that the will to fight this war is not at all insignificant and Arabs have to work hard to strengthen this motion." The bottom line is that the US may end up going to war anyway because top US officials feel that their political career is on the line if they do not attack Iraq. That said, the committee also came back with the impression that there is a remote possibility that if Iraq came up with more political will on the substance and details of its disarmament process to satisfy Hans Blix and Mohamed El-Barad'ei -- especially Blix, who still nurses a few doubts about Baghdad's strategic choice on disarmament -- war could be averted after all. But what can this delegation possibly do in Baghdad? "Convey its impressions and assessments to the Iraqi government and brain storm about what possibly could be done to get Iraq out of harm's way," said one Arab League source. "There will be no pressure, none whatsoever, exercised from this delegation on the Iraqi government to take any steps that Baghdad perceives to be in conflict with either its national interest or rights of sovereignty. However, there is going to be a very honest and straightforward analysis of the huge risks that Iraq is facing in view of the US's determination to go to war." The outcome of this mission to Baghdad could be a number of steps taken by the Iraqi government to intensify and widen its cooperation with arms inspectors. Concerns over potential attempts from the US's close allies on this committee to exercise pressure on Baghdad to respond to some unfair demands have inclined both Syria and Lebanon to suggest that their foreign ministers might miss this visit. However, intensive consultations and assurances have convinced both Al-Sharaa and Hamoud that they need to be involved with what might be the last Arab official mission to Baghdad before a point of no return is reached. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said, "this committee is going to Baghdad with one mission and one mission alone: to implement the resolutions of Arab and international legitimacy which means the full implementation of the Security Council resolution which will lead to a peaceful end to the current crisis and an eventual elimination of the sanctions imposed on Baghdad."
