[originaltext] The three American officials arrived at an airport to the west

The three American officials arrived at an airport to the west of Baghdad on the special UN flight from Bahrain. According to diplomats, they were promptly and politely asked by the Iraqis to turn back. So they boarded the same aircraft and returned to Bahrain. It was repetition of what happened last Thursday when two American arms inspectors were sent back from the same airport. That was the day after Baghdad gave all Americans working with the UN Inspection Team a week to leave the country. This latest incident makes it clear that Baghdad has turned a deaf ear to diplomatic appeals from sympathetic outside parties to back down from its current course and allow the UN Inspection Team to operate unimpeded. Russia, France, Egypt and others who are keen to avoid another crisis have been trying to persuade Iraq that they’ve made a mistake by challenging the Security Council in this way. The state-run Iraqi Press has continued to signal defiance on the part of the Baghdad leadership.