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Show AS’ The Salt Lake Tribune WORLD Sunday,Jariuary 14, 2001 Decade Later, Saddam Still Defiant With trade and oil production up, Iraqi leader is overcoming Gulf War's effects _ he surveyed the cavalcadeof janks, mhissiles and > - ‘THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ‘Romero/TheAssociated Press Residents of Las Colinas, E! Salvador, search the rubble for victims. Medina estimated that 300 houses had been destroyed in Las Colinas. By night, 20 bodies had been recovered at Las Colinas. No pagdees? teens: gpa In the southeastern town of San Miguel, the wall of a hospital collapsed and 25 people were known to be dead in a small vilnearby. News of the damage was slowed by the fact that much yee the quake for several hours. Only sketchy reports had arrived from Officials at San Salvador’s international airport said all flights had been canceled. Police in neighboring Guatemala said a man and a 2-year-old girl were killed and three other people were injured when a pair of homes collapsed in the city of Jalpataua. Local radio stations reported the collapse of a church in Suchitepequez, in southern Guatemala. Honduran officials reported cracked buildings, but there were no reports of injuries. BAGHDAD,Iraq — Khalil al-Suhail, a wealthy Baghdad restaurateur, has a theory: After a decade of war, sanctions and poverty, Iraqis have become virtually crisis-proof. For years, wa showdowns with the United States loomed, Iraqis hoarded food and gasoline, and braced for doomsday. But the last time the Americans and the British bombed, during a December 1998 confrontation over U.N. weapons inspections, irogie took ft in ride “Wejust watched like it was a big fireworks display,” said al-Suhail. “We decided the crisis just wasn't going to dictate our lives anymore.” A decade President Saddam Hussein led Iraq into the 1991 Persian Gulf War, its once prosperous middle been. decimated, its children die at an alarming rate and international sanctions, while cracks, remain a heavy burden. But Saddam’s rule, repressive as ever, faces no serious threats. Whatis changing Iraq is the steadylifting of the siege mentality, and the U.N.oil-for-food program that has restored a measure of stability for Iraq’s 23 million people. Acombination of historic grievance and greed for oil revenue drove Saddam to invade Kuwait on Aug. 2, 1990. After months of brinksmanship, the Gulf War coalition launched a six-week bombing campaign on Jan.17, 1991, followed by a four-day ground war thatliberated the emirate. The Americans and their allies made the Gulf warplanes that still make up one of the largest armies in the Middle East. U.N.inspectors, sucked into a maddening game of hide-and-seek in pursuit of Saddam’s most dangerous weapons, left more than two years ago, their mission incomplete. The exact status of Iraq’s weapons program is still in question. The international sanctions campaign has War look so easy: the videos of laser-guided bombs closeto its prewar output. making pinpoint strikes, Western and Arab armies The U.S. military presence in the Gulf has deterred Saddam from threatening his oil-rich neighbors. Incoming Secretary of State Colin Powell, the U.S. military chief during the Gulf War, has vowed to “re-energize” sanctions. But it will be much tougherfinding partners today. “Rest assured, the people of Iraq can face sanctions and fight the Americans,” Saddam recently declared. steamrolling into Kuwait, the scruffy Iraqi soldiers tossing rifles into the sand and surrendering by the battalion. Buttoday, the clarity of war has yielded to the fog ofpeace. Saddam stood in his presidential box at a recent military parade, cigar dangling beneath his bushy mustache, casually loosing rifle shots into the air as States and Iraq over whois to blame for the heavy toll paid by Iraq’s citizens. As the Americans try to hold the line on sanctions, some Gulf War allies are joining the growing ranks of those who would rather trade with Iraq than punish it. “People aren’t coming to Iraq for the love of Iraq. People are coming because there's business to be done,” said A.K. Hashimi, a senior member of Sad- dam's Baath Party. “The U.S.has tried hard to minimize Iraq’s role in the world, but Iraq can’t be Traq’s economy bottomed outfive years ago, forc- ing Saddam to grudgingly acceptthe oil-for-food program. Iraq bitterly denounces the terms, which give the United Nations full supervision over Iraq’s spending. Also, nearly 30 percent of Iraq’s oil revenue pays for war reparations andU.N.costs. Iraqis derisively call it an “oil-for-the-U.N. program.”Still, a ration-card system ensures every citizen gets the basics — flour, rice, beans, milk and cooking oil. And with sanctions loosened a bit, Iraq is pumping 3 million barrels of oil a day, a figure HALF-YEARLY URNITURE & HOME SAL rail OFF ti STOCK LEATHER FURNITURE x @} COLORS Oatea late Pas) 0) DOWNTO iia ee Co are teat SALE199 ITALIAN LEATHER FURNITURE —bee ours by Chateau d’Ax. Envelope arm with byflaca navy or fawn Italian leather. 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