Saddam Relative OKs U.S. Talks

Wednesday, November 13, 1996 2:00 pm EST

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Iraq is ready to negotiate with the United States at any level to restore relations to a ``sound and solid'' basis, a member of Saddam Hussein's inner circle said in remarks published Wednesday.

Barzan al-Tikriti, Saddam's half-brother and ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, told the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper that Iraq hoped President Clinton would show ``clarity and seriousness'' in his dealings with Baghdad during his second term in office.

Tikriti, widely thought to be in charge of Iraq's intelligence-gathering abroad, warned that Saddam could lash out if he lost hope that crippling U.N. sanctions imposed after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait would be lifted.

``Iraq is ready to clear the air with America and talk about the interests that concern the two countries, and that can be a good reason to stop relations from deteriorating further,'' Tikriti said.

Such negotiations would be a ``prelude to restoring relations on sound and solid basis,'' he said.

The United States has opposed any attempt to lift U.N. sanctions against Iraq. The embargo includes a ban on Iraq's vital oil exports and a freeze of its overseas assets.

Washington insists that Iraq first comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions requiring it destroy its mass-destruction weapons, pay war reparations and account for hundreds of people who remain missing after the Persian Gulf War.

U.N. arms monitors suspect that Saddam's government is concealing contraband weapons and material.

Tikriti said Baghdad already has complied with all U.N. resolutions, but did not say how.