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;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.