Iraqi ambassador hopes US congress delegation will still agree to come to Baghdad

The ambassador of Iraq in Moscow, Abbas Khalaf Kunfud, hopes that a delegation of the Congress of the United States will agree to come to Baghdad to familiarise itself with the situation concerning the elimination of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. He spoke about it in Moscow on Tuesday.

The ambassador said that the day before the Speaker of the Iraqi National Council (parliament), Sadoon Hammadi, invited the ambassador of Poland in Baghdad (Poland represents the diplomatic interests of the United States in Iraq) and handed over to him a letter, inviting members of the US Congress, accompanied by specialists in weapons of mass destruction, to pay a two-week fact-finding visit to Iraq.

This visit, according to the ambassador, will make it possible for "the members of the American Congress, who are now discussing the possibility of a war against Iraq, to become convinced that there are no such weapons in our country." Abbas Khalaf Kunfud pointed out that Baghdad was ready to allow the Congressmen to visit those facilities and plants which allegedly produce weapons of mass destruction. "Let them bring a list, and we are ready to help them visit all facilities that interest them," underscored the Iraqi ambassador.

However, as the RIA Novosti correspondent reports from Washington, on Monday evening the White House rejected the invitation to send a delegation of American Congressmen to Baghdad, having stated that from the point of view of the American side there is no need in discussion.

At the same time, according to the ambassador, the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has supported the initiative of Iraq.

Answering the question about the reaction of Baghdad to yesterday's blows by American and British planes at civil targets in the south of Iraq, Abbas Khalaf Kunfud underscored that "the war against our country is already going on as a matter of fact, and the American raid was not at all a surprise for us."