US `adamantly' opposed Annan overture to Iraq: Time

               WASHINGTON: The United States hoped to ``muzzle'' UN Secretary
               General Kofi Annan in the latest Iraqi crisis and was angered by his
               last-minute appeal to Saddam Hussein, Time magazine said on
               Monday.

               ``He went completely off on his own,'' the US news weekly quoted
               an unnamed US official as saying about Annan's 11th-hour missive to
               Saddam. ``We adamantly opposed the letter,'' the official said.

               The article said US President Bill Clinton and his Secretary of State,
               Madeleine Albright, ``were on the phone to Annan all week'' to block
               a visit to Baghdad like that which ended a similar standoff in
               February. ``But on Friday night, encouraged by the pleadings of Iraqi
               and Russian diplomats, Annan disregarded Washington's private
               protests and sent an appeal on his personal stationary to Saddam,''
               the article said.

               Within hours of receiving the letter from Annan, Saddam flashed
               back his ``yes-but'' reply, forcing the Pentagon to put its plans for
               attacking Iraq on hold. The following morning, Annan publicly gave a
               ``positive'' appraisal of Saddam's letter, deflating the momentum for
               military action before Washington could react, Time said.

               ``We did a remarkable job isolating Saddam, and the Secretary
               General undermined that,'' the magazine quoted a US official as
               saying. ``It was not helpful. And that's a massive understatement.''
               The article said the Clinton administration had sought from the
               beginning of the latest crisis to make it impossible for Saddam to find
               a way to climb down.

               Meanwhile the UN on Tuesday denied that the US ``adamantly''
               opposed the UN chief sending a letter to Saddam Hussein which
               defused the Iraq crisis.

               In a statement, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard commented on a report
               in Time magazine on Monday that Annan ``went completely off on
               his own'' and that Washington ``adamantly opposed the letter'' on
               Friday night.

               ``I categorically reject this assertion, as would those familiar with the
               Security Council discussions on this subject,'' Eckhard said. Eckhard
               said that ``in his meeting with council members on Friday, the idea of
               a letter and what it might say was discussed.''

               ``After lengthy debate, Mr Annan stated that he would, on his own
               authority, send such a letter. There was no objection.'' Eckhard
               furthermore denied that there had been ``private protests'' by the
               United States to Annan, as Time reported.

               Keeping low profile on Monday, Annan said: ``We were expecting
               this,'' an Annan aide told AFP, explaining that the Secretary-General's
               advisers had suggested that he turn down US television network
               requests for interviews on Monday.

               Hardliners in the Clinton administration and in Congress were
               ``looking for a scapegoat, and he doesn't want to get mixed up in this
               domestic issue,'' the aide said. Another UN official said that the UN
               chief was ``waiting for the storm to pass.''

               Reacting to the controversy, Annan on Sunday shrugged off
               criticism, saying that he was only doing his job as UN
               secretary-general. ``All I can say is that I have a mandate, I have a
               conscience, and above all, I believe fervently in the Charter and the
               ideals of the United Nations, which is what guides me,'' he said.
               (AFP)