Gulf Tour '98

BAGHDAD: After William Cohen's Gulf tour played to indifferent audiences, Saddam is putting his own band of envoys on the road. His deputy prime minister is in Morocco, his justice minister has reached Yemen, and his foreign minister is hitting Syria -- where President Assad is urging against any U.S. use of force. Not that he's likely to give Saddam rave reviews, either -- Assad is a longtime foe of Iraq.

Cohen spent Wednesday with a safer crowd on board the U.S.S. Washington, telling the crew they were "the steel in the sword of freedom." Next stop for the defense secretary is Russia, where he hopes to convince Yeltsin of the need for military backup -- and find out what all that talk of World War III was about. Russia’s own bad-boy superstar touches down in Baghdad Wednesday -- none other than ultranationalist parliamentarian Vladimir Zhirinovsky, with a planeload of humanitarian goods in tow. So much for the tour guide. Whether any of these road trips actually amount to anything is a matter only the band managers -- in Washington and Baghdad -- can decide.