Readying for attack Iraqi hospital prepares shelter as country

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Dr. Luay Qasha is preparing for a U.S. attack on Iraq by turning the basement of his Baghdad children's cancer hospital into a bomb shelter -- stocking enough food, medicine and water for 500 people.

But in Italy, the potential for an attack was downplayed by the head of the Arab League, who said Saturday there is a "strong possibility" Iraq will allow U.N. weapons inspectors to return unconditionally in an effort to avoid U.S. action.

Secretary-general Amr Moussa said the inspectors would have unlimited access to "whatever sites" they want to see in Iraq.

"There's room for optimism that the inspectors will be allowed back," Moussa said on the sidelines of a seminar in Cernobbio, a lake retreat in northern Italy.

Washington has accused Iraq of developing weapons of mass destruction and sponsoring terrorists and said it wants a "regime change" in Baghdad. President Bush said he has not yet decided how to contain the threat he believes is posed by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, but a military strike is possible.

Preparing for missile strike

That is why the basement at Baghdad's Al-Mansour Teaching Hospital for Children is being prepared to shelter 200 young patients, their families and medical staff.

"We can move everyone down to the basement in five minutes," Qasha said. "We're now putting in an air conditioning system to supply fresh air to the hospital's shelter. We're also stocking extra gasoline for generators."

The hospital is preparing for a hit by a stray missile.

"I'm so scared," said Feyruz Bekir, a 25-year-old Baghdad pharmacist. "It is not nice to live in a city under a constant threat of bombing."

A day earlier, a member of the foreign relations bureau of Saddam's ruling Baath Party said Iraq was preparing for war. He did not elaborate.

'We will defend Iraq'

"We're doing whatever we can to defend Iraq," Abdulrezzak Al-Hashimi said late Friday. "We're determined to stop them from achieving their objectives on Iraq. We can, and we will, defend Iraq."

Al-Hashimi's confidence was echoed by the words of a young medical student.

"We're not afraid of America. We're trained as soldiers before training to be a doctor," Ghassan Gilian said. "If my country needs me as a soldier, I'll be a soldier."

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammad Saeed Sahaf said Saturday the United States could attack Iraq even if it allows U.N. weapons inspectors back in.

"The American administration itself has said that whether the inspectors returned or didn't return, they couldn't care less," Sahaf said in neighboring Jordan. "What they care about is a change in the political regime in Iraq."

The Americans "have ambitions, and these ambitions will be smashed on the gates and the borders of Iraq because we are not alone in the field and all the Arabs are threatened the same way," Sahaf said.

Foreign ministers of the Arab League said last week that any threat against Iraq also is a threat to "Arab national security." The ministers also said talks should continue between Iraq and the United Nations on issues including the inspections and Iraq's call for an end to U.N. sanctions.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri was quoted Saturday by the Emirates newspaper Al-Khaleej as saying Iraq agrees U.N. weapon inspectors should return, but based on Security Council resolutions, not on a "CIA and Pentagon agenda."

U.N. inspectors were last in Baghad in December 1998, when they left ahead of allied airstrikes punishing Iraq for blocking inspections.

On Friday, the head of a U.N. atomic weapons inspection team said satellite photos of Iraq show unexplained construction at sites the team had visited while searching for evidence of nuclear weapons development. Iraq had no immediate response to the report.