Word: settlements
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...returned from Baghdad the night of Feb. 13, where I was sent by Mikhail Gorbachev to meet with Saddam Hussein to try once again, this time while war was being waged, to turn him toward a political settlement. The road to Baghdad was not an easy one. The city was being bombed heavily by the U.S. Air Force and other members of the multinational coalition. In fact, according to the Iraqis, Baghdad was being subjected to particularly severe air attacks at the time we were there...
This is how we thought it might happen. Iraq had to pledge that it would pull out its forces from Kuwait and then carry out the withdrawal. But Saddam would also know that once his troops had pulled out, a process would start that would lead to a settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The members of the Security Council would actively participate in this process...
...became absolutely clear that one of the main elements of such a security system had to be a settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Without such a settlement, it would be impossible even to define the borders of the neighboring countries, to say nothing of ensuring their safety...
...proposed approach was to guarantee the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait by political means. This would be done by convincing Saddam that following his withdrawal, but not in "linkage" -- I want to stress this -- certain steps would be taken that promoted a settlement of regional disputes and stabilized the situation in the Middle East...
Therefore, although with great stress and strain, the mechanism of a political settlement could have been set in motion, at least, a little bit. I especially underscore "with great stress and strain" and "at least, a little bit." There was no reason to exaggerate the possibilities for developing this process, but at the same time, there was no reason to belittle them either...