IRAQ: Iraq is set to embark on two initiatives in an effort to take away the US's reasons for war, writes Michael Jansen
Baghdad's decision to release all political and other prisoners coincided with the beginning of the protracted hand-over process of five lorry loads of documents taken from Kuwait's national archives in 1990.
No one knows precisely how many political prisoners Iraq has been holding or even who they are. Many opponents of the regime have disappeared or been killed while in prison.
Amongst those to be released are rebel Kurds and Shias, members of opposition parties, dissidents from the ruling Baath party, critics of the regime and armed forces' deserters. The amnesty also includes people in these categories who have fled abroad.
The hand-over of Kuwait's archives is expected to take weeks. Each day five boxes of documents are to be given to the Kuwaitis who will examine the contents carefully before formally accepting them. The Iraqis have prepared detailed lists of documents, which the Kuwaitis must check against those transferred.
These two initiatives were timed for the eve of next week's Security Council debate on a new US draft resolution with the aim of influencing the attitudes of France, China and Russia, permanent members opposed to US plans to wage war on Iraq.
Having agreed to the unconditional return of UN weapons inspectors and to grant them "unfettered access" to all sites they wish to visit in the country in line with existing Council resolutions, Iraq is determined to tick off other outstanding demands.
The prisoner release is meant to signify an end to repression and the transfer of Kuwait's archives is intended to meet the emirate's demand for the return of its property. If some of the 600 Kuwaitis the emirate claims have been held since the 1991 Gulf war emerge from Iraqi prisons and go home, this, too, could count as carrying out Council requirements.
By implementing outstanding provisions of Council resolutions, Iraq seeks to deprive the US of issues it can use as pretexts for launching a war and to persuade Russia, China and France to block the new US text and press for the return to Iraq of UN weapons inspectors. Baghdad fears the US draft will contain provisions Iraq cannot accept, providing Washington with a casus belli.