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Annan: No basis for action now
(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?• ANNAN: IRAQ COOPERATING: In an interview with Israeli Army radio Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that Iraq has cooperated with the inspectors and said he didn't think the United States would launch a military strike before inspectors reported back to the Security Council on January 27. (Full story) • INSPECTORS VISIT SITES: At least six teams of U.N. inspectors headed to sites across Iraq on Tuesday, including a drug research monitoring facility, an oil research and development center, and a bottled water plant. (Full story) • PREDATOR STRIKES AGAIN: For the second time in a week, a U.S. Air Force Predator unmanned aerial vehicle has been used to destroy a mobile radar unit, the U.S. Central Command said Tuesday. The Predator fired a Hellfire missile at the radar unit Monday after the system was moved below the 32nd parallel, the northern boundary of the southern no-fly zone, by Iraqi forces. (Full story) • U.N. ADDS RESTRICTIONS: The U.N. Security Council voted Monday to place more restrictions on items Iraq is allowed to buy with oil profits. The additions to the list include chemical and "dual-use" items that some countries, including the United States, think Iraq could use for weapons as well as for other purposes. The vote was 13-0, with Russia and Syria abstaining. (Full story) • 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) WAR OF WORDS
• In his interview with Israeli Army Radio, Annan said, "Iraq is cooperating and they (inspectors) are able to do their work in an unimpeded manner and therefore I don't see an argument for a military action now. " The U.N. Secretary-General said of his inspection teams, "They may give an interim report before (January) 27 and I really do not see any basis for an action until then, particularly as they are able to carry out their work in an unimpeded manner."
• "I want to remind people that Saddam Hussein, the choice is his to make as to whether or not the Iraqi situation resolved peacefully," President Bush said in response to a reporter's question Tuesday at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. " You said we're headed to war in Iraq. I don't know why you say that. I hope we're not headed to war in Iraq." IMPACT
• It is "impossible to know" what the cost of a possible war in Iraq might be, and the only reference point is the price tag of the 1991 Persian Gulf War -- $60 billion -- a spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget said Tuesday. The spokesman, Trent Duffy, said OMB Director Mitch Daniels did not intend to imply, in an interview with the New York Times, that $50 billion to $60 billion is a hard White House estimate. "He said it could -- could -- be $60 billion," said Duffy.
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