Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=01/29/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ / BUSH REACT (S)

NUMBER=2-298965

BYLINE=GREG LaMOTTE

DATELINE=CAIRO

CONTENT=

INTRO: Gulf states and Arab officials Wednesday reacted to President Bush's State of the Union address, saying U-N weapons inspectors need more time to complete their work and that any decision regarding Iraq's fate should be reached by the international community, not the United States alone. V-O-A's Greg LaMotte has details from our Middle East bureau in Cairo.

TEXT: Kuwait's defense minister, Sheik Jaber Mubarak al-Sabah, said Wednesday that while the emirate agrees with President Bush's remarks Tuesday regarding Saddam Hussein, Kuwait still prefers that Iraq's fate be decided by the U-N Security Council. President Bush told Congress that the Iraqi leader is a threat and cannot be trusted.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday in Beirut, Lebanon's foreign minister, Mahmoud Hammoud, said his country prefers a peaceful solution to the Iraqi crisis.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa called for allowing the weapons inspectors more time to complete their search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Saudi Arabian newspapers (al-Madina, Okaz) accused the Bush administration of having already reached a decision to wage war before Monday's progress report to the U-N Security Council. But they also urged Baghdad not to give Washington any justification to attack.

In Baghdad, weapons inspectors Wednesday searched medicine stores, a research center, an Iraqi university and a company that makes fuses for artillery munitions. (Signed)

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