Iraq said today it had moved Western detainees to vital military targets, making good on its threat to use them as human shields against a potential American attack. The message came after Iraq warned its own people not to hide foreigners or they would face the ``severest punishment.'' Iraq had threatened earlier to use the trapped foreigners as shields, and today's statement by the official Iraqi News Agency said some had already been scattered at the target sites. The agency, monitored in Nicosia, quoted a spokesman for the Iraqi National Council as saying: ``Iraq's foreign guests have been in fact moved to all vital and military installations. They have been provided with all modern facilities and they are all in good physical condition.'' The three-line dispatch provided no further details, such as how many foreigners had been moved or to what installations. Earlier, President Bush demanded that Iraq release all foreigners detained in Iraq and Kuwait, and for the first time he referred to them as hostages. ``There can be little doubt that whatever these innocent citizens are called, they are in fact hostages,'' he said in a speech to war veterans in Baltimore. Also today, two senior U.N. officials headed for Baghdad to urge Iraq to free foreigners held captive in Kuwait and Iraq. U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar said Iraqi President Saddam Hussein requested the envoys be sent. In his speech, Bush repeated U.S. demands that Iraq withdraw from Kuwait, which it invaded Aug. 2. He also likened Saddam Hussein to Adolf Hitler. An Iraqi official also referred to World War II today, reminding the United States that it had once interned members of its own ethnic Japanese population. ``In response to the official American and Western declarations regarding Iraq's hosting of foreigners ... We would like to recall that America, during World War II, held about 100,000 of its own citizens of Japanese origin in detention camps to avert a potential Japanese attack on its western coast,'' said the statement carried by the state-run Iraqi News Agency. It was attributed to the Speaker of the Iraqi National Council, or parliament, Sadi Mehdi Saleh. The United States, meanwhile, picked up another ally in its military thrust against Iraq with Defense Secretary Dick Cheney's announcement today that U.S. C-130 cargo transports have begun operating from the United Arab Emirates. Cheney's statement in Abu Dhabi marked an important show of cooperation from a gulf nation with international efforts to force Iraq out of Kuwait. Also today, OPEC said there was not enough support among its members to call an emergency meeting to consider Saudi Arabia's request to boost oil production. A brief statement said OPEC's president would meet with some other oil ministers before the end of the month. Saudi Arabia said Saturday it would boost oil production by as much as 2 million barrels a day. Iraq said today that diplomats who fail to close their missions in Kuwait by Friday will be treated as any other foreign citizen. But in London, the Foreign office said Britain will attempt to keep an embassy in Kuwait. Austria, Britain, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Sweden, and West Germany said they had no plans to close their missions in Kuwait. The Iraqi radio message, monitored in Nicosia, warned Iraqi citizens against secretly sheltering foreigners to protect them. ``Hosting a foreigner in an Iraqi's place of residence is considered a flagrant violation of the law, for which the severest punishments will be given,'' it said. It said the law applied ``with (Iraq's) entire administrative border'' _ apparently including annexed Kuwait. On Sunday, Saddam offered to free foreigners if the United States withdraws its forces from the Persian Gulf region and guarantees the economic embargo will be lifted. U.S. officials dismissed the offer. He later said he would free citizens of nations that remain neutral in the conflict, including those of Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland and Portugal. They account for only about 600 of the 21,000 foreigners in Iraq and Kuwait. There was growing international anxiety over the fate of the remaining foreign captives, including 3,000 Americans and 4,000 Britons, held for almost three weeks. Saddam said Sunday Westerners will be held at vital Iraqi installations to deter U.S. attacks on the facilities. ``Our people are seeking to avert a catastrophe,'' Saddam said, in comments read on Iraqi television. ``The presence of the foreigners with Iraqi families at vital targets might prevent an attack.'' Iraqi authorities also ordered Westerners in Kuwait to assemble at hotels or face the consequences. In other developments: _The White House said U.S. warships were still ``shadowing'' two Iraqi tankers, which ignored warning shots fired by the U.S. vessels on Saturday. _U.S. warships off the United Arab Emirates were challenging by radio practically every commercial ship coursing up and down the Persian Gulf, shipping executives reported today. _Iraq said today that Indonesian and some Argentine citizens may leave. _China's official Xinhua News Agency said the first group of 97 Chinese would be evacuated from Iraq today, with Baghdad's help. Also today, 122 Soviet citizens crossed into Jordan, the official Soviet news agency Tass reported. _The British Foreign Office said today that 82 Britons were taken Sunday by Iraqi authorities from a hotel in Kuwait city. A day earlier, 41 British citizens were taken from the Kuwait International hotel. _Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal arrived in Damascus, Syria today to discuss the Gulf crisis with the Syrian leadership. _Two Dutch Navy frigates were leaving today for the Persian Gulf to join the multinational force arrayed against Iraq. The air defense frigate Witte de With and the standard frigate Pieter Florisz were to take two weeks to reach the region. _ Greece also said it would send a frigate. _Iraqi soldiers today continued their withdrawal from occupied Iranian territory, the official Iranian news agency said, freeing up thousands of battle-hardened troops to face U.S. forces. Iraq and Iran were also repatriating prisoners from their eight-year war, which effectively ended with a cease-fire in August of 1988. _Iranian newspapers today attacked the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia. The Jomhuri Islami said in an editorial the United States had virtually annexed Saudi Arabia, just as Iraq did Kuwait. But the newspaper stressed that although it opposes the U.S. military presence, it also opposes the Iraqi takeover of Kuwait. United Arab Emirates, an alliance comprising seven sheikdoms, today became the first of the moderate Arab governments in the southern gulf region to publicly announce overt military cooperation with the United States. On Sunday, the United Arab Emirates announced it would allow the deployment of Arab and ``friendly'' forces on its territory as part of multinational efforts to defend the Persian Gulf region. On Saturday night, the U.N. Security Council unanimously demanded that Iraq let all foreigners held in Iraq and Kuwait leave. CBS News said from Baghdad that 35 Americans, including four women and three children, took refuge at U.S. diplomatic ``quarters'' in the Iraqi capital Sunday. Asked about the report, a spokesman at the State Department said: ``We can't make a comment on that at this time.''
