61.   President Clinton on Thursday distanced the United States from a Russian-Iraqi plan to permit international weapons inspections to resume in Iraq.

62.   Saddam continues to defy U.N. peace terms by blocking international weapons inspections.

63.   Saddam kept firm control of his country, and instead of some weapons inspections, we have none.

64.   Saddam was responding to a letter from President Boris Yeltsin of Russia, who opposes the use of force to compel Iraq to agree to weapons inspections.

65.   Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday that the United States was confident that it could gain Iraqi compliance on weapons inspections.

66.   Senior administration officials said the options included an American military strike on Iraq to force it to comply with the weapons inspections.

67.   Since the eleventh-hour agreement on weapons inspections clinched by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan four weeks ago, U.S. officials have been strangely quiet.

68.   Some officials said that there are suspicions that foreign diplomats in Baghdad are leaking operational discussions involving weapons inspections to Iraqi officials.

69.   So far, Saddam has agreed to the weapons inspections but has yet to announce whether he will accept the oil-for-food deal.

70.   Stated unequivocally that he will reject any international movement toward ending economic sanctions against Iraq until Saddam Hussein comes into full compliance on weapons inspections.