Pope's Baghdad envoy believes peace is possible

The pope’s envoy said he came away from his meeting in Baghdad with Saddam Hussein convinced that peace is possible. Cardinal Roger Etchegaray described the Iraqi leader “very open to dialogue.”

He is expected to brief John Paul tomorrow efore the pontiff meets UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the Vatican.

“I found the (Iraqi) president very open to dialogue,” Etchegaray said in Baghdad. ”He listened to me with great attention.”

The pope dispatched the envoy last week to deliver a personal message to Saddam.

“I know he’s a difficult interlocutor,” the cardinal said. “But I am certain that I relayed well the pope’s message to him. Now I’ll relay his words to the Holy Father.”

The cardinal did not specify the contents of either message.

Etchegaray said he tried to push the Iraqi leader “to reflect, to try to be more open and to exert himself to the maximum to avoid armed conflict.”

The cardinal said that because he was on a “moral mission,” he didn’t raise such topics as the possibility of allowing U-2 reconnaissance flights over Iraq to help weapons inspectors determine if Baghdad has complied with UN disarmament demands.

Etchegaray said: “Amid the big clouds that are piling up in these times, there has been a little clearing” which should be used by all to “respond to the needs of the international community.”

“The slightest step of the next days can take on the form of a big leap toward peace. Peace is still possible in Iraq and for Iraq,” the envoy said, adding that he headed back to Rome ”believing that more strongly than ever before.”