MOSCOW MARCH 13. The former Soviet President, Mikhail Gorbachev, has called on the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, to emulate his own example and step down to avoid war. ``There is only one way (to avert war): Saddam Hussein should relinquish his post,'' Mr. Gorbachev told a press conference today.
Mr. Gorbachev gave two historical examples of Russian leaders resigning to prevent the country from sinking into armed conflict: the abdication of Nikolai the Second in 1917 and his own resignation in 1991. While the tsar's
abdication failed to stop a Bolshevik revolution and the ensuing civil war in Russia, the resignation of Mr. Gorbachev in 1991 is largely believed to have
saved the country from civil strife after the leaders of three constituent republics, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus decided to disband the Soviet Union.
Mr. Hussein's departure will "open the way to changes, to a new political leadership in Iraq and will thereby cancel out military action,'' Mr. Gorbachev told a press conference today. There is no other way to stop the United States from going to war against Iraq, he said.