WASHINGTON. Nov 10: U-2 aircraft have resumed their spy flights over Iraq In service of the United Nations, defying a threat by Baghdad to shoot down the US piloted spy planes. CNN reported early today, says Reuter.
CNN said administration officials briefed lawmakers on Capitol Hill that the flights had resumed. Defence Department officials were not immediately available for comment, and the White House declined comment on the report.
CNN said fighter planes were flying an escort near the U-2 aircraft. Incase Iraq made good on its threat. Washington has threatened to retaliate if any of its planes are shot down.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Sunday characterised the dispute with Baghdad as "serious" and urged Iraq to rescind its order to expel American arms inspectors.
Richard Butler, the chief arms inspector, said he would send teams that included Americans into the field again today, despite Baghdad's refusal for the past seven days to allow them to operate.
AP adds, the United States will be seeking the "strongest possible action" against Iraq when the Security Council discusses Baghdad's refusal to cooperate with UN arms inspections that include Americans.
The 15-member Security Council takes up the issue Monday afternoon, following a last-ditch effort by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to resolve the crisis diplomatically.
Annan will meet Monday morning with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz. UN officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that if Aziz's
private position is the same as the public one, then Annan will have to tell the council that UN diplomacy is at a dead-end.
Iraq wants Americans removed from the team, saying they are spies. Diplomats say Iraq also wants a timetable for an end to the inspections, which are the key to lifting crippling economic sanctions Imposed seven years ago.
Annan conferred Sunday night with the three envoys he sent to Baghdad last week on an unsuccessful mission to persuade Saddam to back down.
The Iraqis have to come to the one conclusion to rescind their decision and comply by Security Council resolutions.
An Iraqi woman holds an oxygen mask over the face of her sick baby daughter ip the Saddam Hospital for children in Baghdad Sunday. _ AP/UNB photo
said one of the envoys, Swedish diplomat Jan Eliasson. "It would be in their enlightened self-interest to do so."
Annan will circulate the envoys' report to the United States and other council members Monday. US and British diplomats will also spend the morning conferring with council colleagues to see how far they are willing to go in punishing Iraq.
Options include banning Iraqi officials who obstruct UN Inspections from traveling abroad, restricting imports of equipment that can be used for both civilian and military purposes and canceling periodic reviews of the sanctions programme.
"Iraqis to choose between sacrifice or slavery" Meanwhile, President Saddam Hussein suggested that a confrontation over UN arms inspections might be inevitable, saying the Iraqi people had "to choose between sacrifice or slavery."
His strident comments came hours before an American U-2 spy plane flying for the United Nations resumed flights high over Iraq early Monday, congressional officials in Washington reported.
There was no immediate confirmation of the overflights by the official Iraqi News Agency but Iraq has threatened to shoot down the spy plane, something the United States has sternly warned the Iraqis against.
On Sunday. Iraq barred UN weapons inspection teams that included Americans for a seventh day and sent its deputy prime minister to argue its case before the UN Security Council.