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CAROLINA SHUTTLE introduces ' EXPRESS ROUTE 1 W ■ TO THE — 7 ON A I MINUTE INTERVAL (RUNS FROM 1:30 AM -11:00 AM) CAROLINA SHUTTLE: MOVING I Iraq pledges U.N. cooperation, says U.S. attack is still feared at 'any minute, any second’ BY CHARLES J. HANLEY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BAGHDAD, IRAQ — The Baghdad government will work more closely with arms monitors under a new U.N. accord, but the U.S. military will probably attack Iraq anyway, a senior Iraqi offi cial said Tuesday. “It is possible any minute, any second that while the inspectors are still here, the aggression takes place, because the U.S. adminis tration doesn’t care,” Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said. The comments came as President Bush chided allies for their reluctance to wage war against Saddam Hussein’s regime, and the White House un derlined it was willing to attack without backing from the United Nations. Saddam has “been given ample time to disarm,” Bush said in Washington. “This business about more time. How much time do we need to see clearly that he’s not disarming?” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer reiterated that the Bush administration believes it doesn’t need U.N. Security Council sup port for an attack. America would lead a “coalition of the willing” against Iraq if, in its view, the Baghdad government fails to sur render weapons of mass destruc tion, Fleischer said. Security Council backing looked unlikely, after foreign ministers meeting in New York made clear their opposition to early military action. France’s stand suggested it might veto any U.S. bid for a council resolution authorizing an invasion. Another U.S. ally, Turkey, an nounced it would host key Middle East foreign ministers in talks Thursday to try to find ways to ease the U.S.-Iraqi standoff. “All decision-makers should give an ear to calls for peace rising in the world,” said Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of Turkey’s rifl ing party. “It’s possible to achieve it, especially if the United States contributes.” Only British Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke in support of the Bush administration, telling British lawmakers “the intelli gence has grown over the last cou ple of months” that Iraq is con cealing chemical and biological weapons. Saddam, meanwhile, struck a confident note, telling army com manders Tuesday that he has good reason to be happy these days. In the latest of a series of morale-boosting meetings with the military, the Iraqi president said: “I want you to know that even when I am not smiling, I am in fact smiling... it reflects my joy at the path we chose ... and be cause I am happy to be the leader of men of your caliber.” U.N. arms inspectors dropped in unannounced Tuesday on a chemical plant south of Baghdad flagged by British intelligence as a “facility of concern.” It was their eighth visit to the Qa Qa Company since early December, and they have reported no sign of chemical weapons-making there. In fact, after some 400-site visits across Iraq since Nov. 27, the chief U.N. inspectors have reported finding no “smoking guns.” On Monday, those top arms monitors — Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the U.N. nuclear agency — conclud ed a 10-point agreement in talks with Iraqi officials to clear obsta cles to more effective inspections. Washington wants to “create the idea that Iraq isn’t cooperat ing,” Ramadan told reporters Tuesday. “We hope to increase this cooperation (with inspectors) and overcome any obstacles, so we don’t give the U.S. adminis tration any pretext.” The U.S. military is likely to at tack anyway, he said, but without international cover, “the aggres sion would be seen as only an American-Zionist (Israeli) one.” Following its invasion of Kuwait and its defeat in the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq was forbidden by the Security Council to possess any chemical, biological or nu clear weapons. A council resolu tion adopted Nov. 8 sent inspec tors back after a four-year ab sence. The new U.N.-Iraqi accord stip ulates, among other things, that the Baghdad government will en courage Iraqi scientists, engi neers and other weapons special ists to submit to private inter views with U.N. inspectors, who believe interview subjects will be more candid without Iraqi gov ernment officials sitting in. On Tuesday, U.N. inspectors also visited the Al-Mutasim mis sile plant, 55 miles west of the cap ital. A comprehensive CIA report last October said the size of new facilities at the plant indicated it was building larger missiles, vio lating a U.N. prohibition on Iraqi missiles with ranges greater than 90 miles. After repeated visits to Qa Qa, Al-Mutasim and 11 other instal lations cited as “facilities of con cern” in British and U.S. intelli gence reports, the arms monitors have reported no violations of U.N. bans. Thousands of women rallied in Baghdad on Tuesday in an anti American and pro-Saddam demonstration sponsored by a na tional women’s organization. As • American flags burned, groups of angry women chanted. ‘'Kill Bush and we’ll dig his grave!” Beyond Iraq’s borders, thou sands of U.S. troops continued to assemble in the Persian Gulf re gion. The U.S. Army announced Monday that 37,000 more, includ ing the 4th Infantry Division, had been ordered to the Gulf. Blair’s government announced it was sending 26,000 soldiers to the re gion — one-quarter of the British army. You go to school to learn - You come home to: J^elax Study ^Workout fit STERLING UNIVERSITY APARTMENT FEATURES: • Ethernet service included • W/D in every apartment • Private Bedrooms available • Custom Furnished aprtment • Microwave, Dishwasher COMMUNITY FEATURES: • 24 Hour Emergency Maintenance • State of the Art Computer Center • Huge Fitness Center I« Sand Volleyball • Resort Style Pool with Hot Tub • FREE Shuttle to campus 739-0899 215 Spencer Place Cayce, South Carolina 29033 www^uhriversidexom O r An SUJP ® Community SUH is a trademark of SUH, Inc. OPPORTUNITY