President Saddam Hussein hsa put Iraq onto a war footing, dividing the country into four military zones.
As the heads of government in the US, Britain and Spain make what are expected to be final preparations for an attack on Iraq, the Iraqis sent urgent invitations to UN arms inspectors to visit in a last-ditch bid to avoid a US-led offensive.
The military zoning announced overnight by the ruling Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) headed by Saddam was intended as a "means to rebuff and destroy any aggression," the state news agency INA said.
The military carve-up of the country put the central region around Baghdad and Saddam's hometown of Tikrit under the command of his younger son Qusay, who heads the elite Revolutionary Guards.
In an indication of the importance of the region, in which US defence officials believe Iraq's elite forces are entrenched, Defence Minister Sultan Hashem Ahmed was named second in command to Qusay.
The four military zones will take "direct" orders from Saddam, who is also RCC secretary general and the commander in chief of the armed forces.
The zones were entrusted large powers, but recourse to the "air force, surface-to-surface missiles and the anti-aircraft defences" remains in the hands of the Iraqi president.
There has not yet been a response to Iraq's invitation to UN chief weapons inspectors Dr Hans Blix and Dr Mohamad El-Baradei.
"I don't think we have any firm views on where the invitation will take us at the moment," Dr Blix told CNN late last night. "We're studying the contents of it and discussing it."
On the ground, UN disarmament inspectors are continuing the destruction of Al-Samoud 2 missiles near Baghdad, UN spokesman Hiro Ueki said. A total of 68 missiles and 42 warheads have now been destroyed since the process started on March 1st, well over half the 100-120 Al-Samoud 2s Baghdad says it produced.
But in a sign of the mounting problems which the military buildup on Iraq's borders is causing for the UN mission, Iraqi officials announced that the world body had been forced to withdraw five helicopters used by its arms experts for surprise inspections and aerial surveillance.
Insurers were no longer prepared to cover the aircraft, the officials said.
AFP