Word: aziz
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Because I was leaving for Moscow shortly and telephone communications had been knocked out by the bombing raids, Saddam said a "brief reply" to the * overall proposal would be brought to the Soviet embassy by Aziz, who would also go to Moscow to continue the contacts. At 2 a.m. on Feb. 13, Aziz brought a written statement declaring that "the Iraqi leadership is seriously studying the ideas outlined by the representative of the Soviet President and will give its reply in the immediate future." Two days later, the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council announced that it was willing to comply with...
Meeting with Gorbachev, Foreign Minister Alexander Bessmertnykh and me in Moscow on the morning of Feb. 18, Aziz said that in spite of the brutal strike inflicted upon Iraq, it would not surrender -- and that was final. "Your stand seems very inconsistent," said Gorbachev. "On the one hand, this is an important step toward a political settlement, since you acknowledge Resolution 660, calling for an unconditional withdrawal. On the other hand, your positions seem to include preconditions for that withdrawal." Gorbachev also wanted to know why the withdrawal statement "did not use the word Kuwait...
...Aziz left for Baghdad later that same day, and the tension-filled hours ticked into days as we waited for news from Iraq. On the evening of Feb. 20, we received a message from our embassy in Baghdad: Aziz had requested that a Soviet plane be sent to Iran to take him on to Moscow. The next day, in a clear indication that the talks would not be easy, Saddam Hussein gave an inconsistent and emotional speech over the radio in which he repeated the whole set of accusations and threats. Still, Aziz returned to Moscow around midnight...
...pointed out that Iraq had been able to bring its forces into Kuwait in a matter of hours. But Aziz replied that it had only been two divisions and that approximately 500,000 men had been concentrated in Kuwait during the seven months that followed. Gorbachev took a firm stand: "The proposed deadline can and must be reduced to a minimum...
...received a positive reply from Saddam at 2 a.m. Moscow time, on Saturday, Feb. 23 (6 p.m. Friday in New York and Washington). Ten hours later, Aziz announced in Moscow that the Iraqi leadership had agreed to the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all its armed forces from Kuwait. But at the same time, he referred to the entire "complex" of issues, including the need to pronounce invalid all the resolutions that had been adopted by the Security Council after Resolution 660. Then he left the Soviet Union for Baghdad...