Though Iraq agreed to let the American U-2 surveillance plane join the U.N. inspection,

An American U-2 surveillance plane made its first flight over Iraq on Monday in support of the current U.N. inspection mission, marking another concession by Saddam Hussein’s regime to stave off (避开；延迟；挡开) a U. S. -led attack. Meanwhile, Iraqi state television broadcast scenes of Iraqi troops in maneuvers to show their determination to defend the country from a possible U. S. attack. State television said Saddam praised last weekend’s anti-war protests, singling out those in Italy, Spain and Britain whose governments support the strong U.S. position against Baghdad. The U-2 flight began only one week after the United Nations and Baghdad broke an impasse (难局；僵局) that had kept the reconnaissance plane grounded since the start of inspections in November. The Iraqis agreed to allow U-2 flights last week, fulfilling a major demand by U.N. inspectors seeking to determine if Iraq still harbors weapons of mass destruction.