Cohen: Iraq Won't Split U.S. And Russia

Defense Secretary William Cohen says differences over how to deal with Iraq won't harm relations between the U.S. and Russia.

But he also told NBC's Today broadcast that "There is disagreement on whether or not military power can be used to enforce diplomacy." Cohen is in Moscow for a two-day visit with Russian leaders.

He also says the focus of his visit is reducing nuclear weapons, and finding ways for the two countries to share information.

As for differences over Iraq, Cohen says the U.S. intends to forge a strong partnership with Russia. He says the two countries can work out their differences. Meanwhile, the U.S. and U.N. still are waiting to hear from Moscow about a possible 1995 weapons deal with Iraq

Russia opposes using military force against Iraq to end the standoff over weapons inspectors.

In other developments:

• Iraq says it's standing firm on U.N. weapons inspections. The ruling party's newspaper says Iraq won't back down, despite a U.S. decision to send more troops to the Persian Gulf.
• The U.S. and U.N. still are waiting to hear from Moscow about a possible 1995 weapons deal with Iraq, according to newspaper reports.
• The U.S. has threatened to attack unless the weapons inspectors are given full access. U.S. and Britain Wednesday dismissed an Iraqi proposal to open eight presidential complexes for two months to new weapons inspectors selected by the U.N. secretary-general.

  (Note: Saddam Hussein's palaces are at the center of Iraq's standoff over U.N. inspections. The U.S. has threatened to attack Iraq unless inspectors have free access to all sites, to ensure that Iraq has no more weapons of mass destruction. Iraq says the sites in question are symbols of its national sovereignty, and that it cannot give the inspectors unfettered access to them.)

• Iraq's deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, said in a CNN interview Wednesday night that the standoff "might lead to a war." But Britain said Thursday an attack on Iraq was "not inevitable" and that diplomacy, backed up by military threat, was working.
• Oil-rich Libya, an ardent opponent of U.S. policy, has warned Australia and Canada it would cancel trade and energy agreements if they join the U.S. in an attack, Egypt's Middle East News Agency reported. Both countries have promised to contribute troops and equipment to any U.S. military action against Iraq.
• Russian ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky flew to Iraq Wednesday with seven members of Russia's parliament as a sign of Russian backing of Baghdad.
• In Beijing, Chinese Premier Li Peng reaffirmed China's opposition to a military strike against Iraq and called for a negotiated end to the crisis.

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