Our friend and contributor, Jim Dawson was re-elected to the city
 council of Northglenn, Colorado.  We know that he will do his usual
 goo job.  Good Luck, Jim
 Sandy
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     UNITED NATIONS - Nov. 4, 1997 9:47 p.m. EST - The United Nations
 said Tuesday it was postponing U-2 surveillance flights over Iraq
 this week while U.N. mediators try to persuade Iraqi President Sad-
 dam Hussein to cooperate with weapons inspectors.
     Earlier Tuesday, Iraq agreed to suspend its plans to expel Amer-
 ican members of the U.N. weapons inspection team while a three-member
 U.N. mediation mission is in Baghdad and until after the U.N.
 Security Council reviews the issue next week.
     The chief weapons inspector, Richard Butler, said in a statement
 Tuesday that he had decided to postpone the U-2 flights scheduled
 for Wednesday through Friday while the mission is in Iraq.
     Butler, who said the decision was in response to a request from
 U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said the flights would resume
 next week.
     On Sunday, Iraq's U.N. ambassador warned Butler that it was risky
 to fly the American aircraft over the country during a period when
 Iraqi anti-aircraft gunners were on alert.
     The United States interpreted that as a threat to shoot down the
 plane, which flies surveillance missions in support of U.N. weapons
 inspection programs.
     In Washington on Tuesday, President Clinton warned Saddam it
 would be "a big mistake" to try to shoot down American U-2 planes.
     In his first public comments on the escalating tensions with
 Baghdad, Clinton urged that efforts be redoubled to end the crisis
 through diplomacy. But the administration made clear that it was not
 backing down.
     Defense Secretary William Cohen warned of "serious consequences"
 if any U.S. planes are attacked, and Clinton also expressed determi-
 nation to prevent Iraq from acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
     The Iraqis have been preventing American members of the U.N.
 inspection teams from entering suspected weapons sites, prompting
 the United Nations to call off inspections that had been set for
 Monday and Tuesday.
     Annan said he believed the United Nations would still attempt to
 carry out inspections with all team members, including Americans.
     "Threats and counterthreats are not conducive to these kinds of
 negotiations," Annan told reporters.  "So I appeal to everyone to
 restrain themselves and give the process a chance."
     The three-member U.N. mediation team, comprising diplomats from
 Algeria, Argentina and Sweden, is due in Baghdad on Wednesday to
 urge the Iraqis to rescind their expulsion order and comply with
 U.N. resolutions requiring they cooperate with U.N. weapons inspec-
 tors. The Security Council had warned of "serious consequences" if
 the expulsions are carried out.
     The United Nations also wants the three envoys to tell Iraq to
 allow U-2 flights over Iraq to continue without interference.
     The envoys are expected to return to New York this weekend and
 brief the Security Council on Monday.
     U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard announced the Iraqi decision to sus-
 pend the expulsion order on Tuesday but said only that Annan had
 been assured the Americans could stay as long as the emissaries
 were in Baghdad.
     But it appeared the agreement with the Iraqis went beyond that,
 and that the United Nations had arranged a deal where Iraqi Deputy
 Prime Minister Tariq Aziz would come to New York to argue his
 government's case personally before the Security Council.
--- DB 1.39/004487
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