Iraq gives call for sanctions by U.N. to end

Emboldened by the latest weapons inspectors' report, Iraq on Saturday called on the United Nations to remove crippling sanctions and ban weapons of mass destruction in the entire Middle East -- and eventually in the United States.

Iraq resumed destroying banned Al Samoud 2 missiles under U.N. supervision Saturday after taking a day off, crushing six more in a process that chief inspector Hans Blix called a "substantial measure of disarmament."

In the past week, Iraq has destroyed 40 of its 100 Al Samoud 2 missiles, prohibited by the United Nations because some tests indicated they could fly farther than a U.N.-imposed limit of 93 miles. It also has been destroying equipment used to make them.

Reports to the Security Council on Friday by Blix and chief nuclear inspector Mohammed ElBaradei praised Iraq's recent compliance. But inspectors also questioned Iraq's motivation, as it began to give the inspectors what they wanted only when the threat of war became immediate.

Blix also documented lingering questions about Iraqi weapons programs in a 173-page dossier, which said Baghdad may still possess about 10,000 liters of anthrax, Scud missile warheads and drones capable of flying far beyond a 93-mile limit.

President Bush said the reports indicated that only a war will make Iraq give up its banned weapons.

"Unfortunately, it is clear that Saddam Hussein is still violating the demands of the United Nations by refusing to disarm," he told Americans in a radio address Saturday.

Invasion of Kuwait

Iraq, however, took the inspectors' report as an endorsement of its work and argued not only that war plans should be canceled, but that sanctions imposed on it by the Security Council for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait should be removed.

"We demand that the Security Council and the world decide on ... the lifting of sanctions on Iraq in a comprehensive and complete way," said a spokesman for a meeting Saturday of Saddam and top-level officials, quoted by official Iraqi news media.

The spokesman claimed the weapons inspectors had verified Iraq has rid itself of weapons of mass destruction -- something the inspectors said would take months to do -- and appealed for a ban on such weapons to be extended beyond Iraq: to Israel, and eventually to the United States.

The spokesman, reporting on the meeting, said Iraq called on the Security Council "to rid the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction since Iraq has become free of them."

"At the front of those that must be rid of these weapons is the Zionist entity," he said in a reference to Israel, adding that the order should "move on after this region to America."

U.N. resolutions require inspectors to verify that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction or the means to make them before sanctions can be lifted.

Saddam has long claimed Iraq destroyed all its weapons of mass destruction. The United States and Britain claim he's lying, and have assembled a quarter-million troops around Iraq for a possible invasion.

Iraq also denounced a U.S. request for about 60 countries to expel 300 selected Iraqis who it said were undercover agents. Some are operating as diplomats out of Iraqi embassies, according to officials in Washington.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement Saturday night that all its diplomats abide by the laws of the countries they are in, and called the U.S. request "a frantic campaign" by the CIA.

Diplomatic solutions

Despite Iraq's demands of the Security Council, diplomats were working hard on very different proposals: a U.S.-led plan for disarmament or war by March 17, and a rival French plan for an emergency summit of Security Council members to come up with a compromise.

France, a leader in opposition to war, had been insisting the U.S.-British drive for a U.N. resolution was doomed, but its sudden diplomatic activity indicated Paris may no longer be so sure.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he was confident of winning majority support for the resolution he presented to the council Friday, which gives Saddam Hussein a March 17 deadline to prove he was disarming. The United States and Britain have massed some 250,000 troops for a possible attack on Iraq.

Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice planned to lobby allies by telephone through the weekend and until next week's planned vote on the new resolution. Aides did not rule out travel for the three.

France insists the Anglo-American proposal won't gain the necessary nine votes to win a majority on the 15-member council. The United States and Britain are backed by Spain and Bulgaria, while France has the support of Russia, China, Germany and Syria.

Both sides are fighting for the votes of the six other members -- Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea, Mexico and Pakistan.

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin's office said Saturday he would visit Angola, Cameroon and Guinea in the next few days to seek their support. Paris has claimed to have the support of the African nations, but British diplomats were increasingly hopeful of getting their votes.

Mexico and Chile are also seen as leaning toward approving the resolution for fear of offending the United States, some diplomats said.

British diplomats insisted Saturday that at least five of the six would eventually back the resolution. Although France and Russia could then veto the resolution, Britain would consider a nine vote majority to be moral vindication.