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Inspectors wrap up first month
(CNN) -- With events moving closer to a possible war with Iraq, here is a look at some of the latest developments around the world: ROAD TO WAR?• INSPECTORS VISIT SITES: U.N. inspectors visited an engineering firm and the customs directorate in Baghdad on Sunday, the 30th day of weapons inspections in the country, the Iraqi information ministry said. Separately, a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency traveled to two sites in Baghdad -- the Eyz Co., which makes electronic equipment, and the Salam Factory, which produces communications equipment for civilian and military use. (Full story) • COALITION AIRSTRIKE: Coalition warplanes enforcing the southern no-fly zone over Iraq bombed two Iraqi military radar sites Sunday near Diwaniyah, 75 miles south of the capital. The strikes occurred at 7:40 a.m. EST, according to a U.S. Central Command statement. • IRAQ GIVES NAMES: Iraq gave U.N. weapons inspectors a list of more than 500 scientists associated with its weapons programs, a spokesman for the inspectors said Saturday. Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix had requested the list in a letter sent December 12 to the Iraqis. The deadline for the list was December 31. (Full story) • U.S. FORCES GET ORDERS: U.S. Army tank and mechanized infantry units have received orders to move out to the Persian Gulf for a possible war in Iraq, officials said Saturday. Soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division, 3rd Battalion, 1st and 3rd Brigades from Fort Stewart and Fort Benning, Georgia, have received their deployment orders, though no departure date has been disclosed. (Full story) Separately, the U.S. Navy has been ordered to prepare two aircraft carriers for deployment to the Persian Gulf after the first of the year, naval officials said Friday. (Full story) • SAUDI SUPPORT: A Saudi official said Saturday it has long been his country's position that it will support the United States in the event of a war with Iraq. The official, said, however, that Saudi Arabia would not publicly admit to providing airspace, air bases and the use of an operations center to the United States. The Saudi source said "the bottom line is Saudi Arabia would not say no to the U.S. and certainly would not stand in the way of the U.S. if crunch time came." • TURKEY HOLDS OFF: NATO member Turkey will delay any decision on whether to support possible military action against Iraq until weapons inspectors have announced their initial findings. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's de facto leader, confirmed the country's position Friday as senior U.S. State Department and Treasury officials arrived in Turkey to discuss economic assistance for the country in the event of war. (Full story) WAR OF WORDS
• In the event of a war, Iraq's oil fields "are the property of the Iraqi people," said U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday. If coalition forces go into the oil fields, Powell said, "we would want to protect those fields and make sure that they are used to benefit the people of Iraq, and are not destroyed or damaged by a failing regime on the way out the door."
• Speaking on Turkish television, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's de facto leader, said: "You would appreciate that the U.N. decision is binding for us due to the signatures we have put on international conventions. Both we and the government say that Turkey will not finalize its position until the U.N. Security Council's decision." Erdogan added: "The report by the U.N. inspectors about weapons of mass destruction has not been submitted yet. Until [then] I believe what is said now is no more than gossip and mere prediction."
"We don't have a nuclear program -- by the way, now it's a past program -- but really I don't know what kind of materials could be used in the nuclear program," said metallurgist Qadhem Mijbil, who was questioned by U.N. inspectors. Mijbil is from al-Raya, a well-known state company that is part of Iraq's Military Industrialization Commission, according to the Iraqi foreign ministry. IMPACT
• Senior State Department and Treasury officials have traveled to Turkey, a key ally in a possible war against Iraq, to discuss U.S. economic assistance to Ankara. The trip follows a visit to Washington by the Turkish economic minister this month about a U.S. economic package for Turkey "in the context of a possible military campaign against Iraq," a senior Turkish official said. The delegation arrived as the Turkish government began a series of high-level meetings, including a meeting Friday of the country's National Security Council, to discuss U.S. requests for Turkish support in a war against Iraq.
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