Arab governments, including Baghdad, have put a positive spin on the adoption by the UN Security Council of resolution 1441 giving Iraq a last chance to disarm before the US and Britain take military action, writes Michael Jansen.
The Arabs contend that the US and Britain were forced to come up with a text which does not give them international cover to wage war against Iraq, if Baghdad complies with the tough terms of the resolution.
Consequently, during yesterday's meeting at Arab League headquarters in Cairo, foreign ministers urged Iraq to carry out its obligations and reiterated the stand adopted in March that an attack on Iraq would amount to an attack on all Arabs.
Although Arabs are united in their rejection of war, the league can do little more than press Iraq. While its performance has improved since Mr Amr Mousa, an energetic former Egyptian foreign minister, became secretary-general, neither the league nor individual members have been able to exert leverage on the Bush administration.
While Iraq says it is "studying" the resolution and will reply by Friday's deadline, the Iraqi parliament was yesterday told to convene in emergency session.
A recommendation of acceptance would lend a certain amount of legitimacy to such a decision, which is expected to be positive. The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt said Baghdad had already decided to accept the challenge.
Following consultations with the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Mr Naji Sabri, his Egyptian counterpart, Mr Ahmad Maher, said: "There are statements at the highest level in Baghdad on the readiness to co-operate with any resolution which carries assurances that it does not foresee a military strike."
He said there should be guarantees that inspectors would act in a neutral way, respecting strictly all the resolutions of the Security Council, particularly those calling for respect of Iraqi sovereignty.
Arab governments indicated that they agreed with Syria's decision to vote for, rather than abstain on, the resolution. The Syrian Foreign Minister, Mr Farouk al-Sharaa, claimed his country had worked hard to obtain an acceptable text. He said he had received a letter from his US counterpart, Mr Colin Powell, in which he stressed that there was nothing in the resolution to allow it to be used as a pretext to launch a war on Iraq, and that if the US had any intention of resorting to military action, this resolution would not have taken seven weeks.
Despite such assurances, Arab commentators were sharply critical of Damascus.
The existing gulf between rulers and ruled can be expected to grow if the US military build-up in the Gulf continues unabated.