U.N. Security Council discusses Iraq timetable

UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N. Security Council met Tuesday to discuss Iraq, a day after Baghdad offered to admit U.N. weapons inspectors without conditions -- a concession made under the threat of U.S. military action and pressure from Arab states.\nThe chief U.N. weapons inspector, Hans Blix, was to meet later Tuesday with Iraqi officials to discuss "practical arrangements" for the return of international weapons inspectors to Baghdad, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard announced.\nThe purpose of the Security Council meeting was to lay down the timetable for further debate on Iraq, Eckhard said.\nBefore the session, the United States expressed skepticism about Baghdad's willingness to allow a real search for weapons of mass destruction.\nPresident Bush said Tuesday that the Security Council "must not be fooled" by Iraq's questionable promise of unfettered weapons inspections. He told wavering world leaders to maintain pressure on Saddam Hussein to disarm.\nAnd Secretary of State Colin Powell said Washington would seek a new Security Council resolution spelling out the steps Iraq needs to take to meet 11-year old U.N. demands.\n"We will press for a resolution," Powell said. "If they [the Iraqis] are serious, they will want one."\nBut Russia -- a powerful veto-holding member of the Security Council -- said a new resolution is unnecessary now that inspectors were welcomed back.\n"I don't think so," Russian Ambassador Sergei Lavrov said when asked if there was a need for a new resolution.\nHis comments were echoed by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, who came out against the Bush administration's desire for another U.N. resolution on Iraq.\n"Concentration now should be on the agreement to implement what Iraq has accepted -- the return of the inspectors and the importance of taking measures to carry it out."\nBlix has said he could have inspectors on the ground within days but it would take his teams several weeks before they could begin monitoring Iraqi sites.\nEckhard said the meeting later Tuesday between Blix and the Iraqis would take place at U.N. headquarters. Scheduled to attend were Saeed Hasan, the former Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations, and Gen. Hosam Amin, head of the national monitoring directorate, which was set up as a counterpart to U.N. inspectors.\nThe two sides need to hammer out several outstanding issues before inspectors can return.\nThose include use of the previous inspection agency's Baghdad headquarters, support for the inspectors, government escorts and translators, installation and monitoring of equipment, travel to and from Iraq for inspectors, accommodations for short-term and long-term staff, landing sites for both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters and overflights in Iraq.\nThe Security Council can give its approval without a new resolution, but it was not clear whether council approval was even necessary, because of earlier resolutions on inspections.\nIn Baghdad, Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said weapons inspectors should finish their work "within a reasonable time" to bring the lifting of sanctions. Aziz said the United States may still be looking for a reason to attack Iraq.\n"If the inspectors come and act honestly, professionally ... they can reach the truth within a reasonable time. But if the Americans are using this as a pretext, they might use some other way in order to commit an aggression against Iraq," Aziz said.\nEarlier, Aziz said Washington's sole goal was to dominate oil in the Persian Gulf region.\nAziz called on U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to monitor inspectors closely to ensure they do not overstep their mission. He said Iraq hoped the return of inspectors "will lead as soon as possible to the lifting of sanctions and normalizing the situation."\nFor the council, the main goal over the past four years has been getting inspectors back inside Iraq in order to curb Saddam's chances of procuring weapons.\nEven before Annan announced the deal with Iraq on Monday, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told reporters: "We have one goal, which is the fight against proliferation" of weapons of mass destruction.\nWashington quickly dismissed Iraq's offer as a tactic meant to split the Security Council, where the Bush administration has been lobbying hard for a resolution that would authorize force against Iraq if it failed to let the inspectors return.\nFor the United States, disarmament in Iraq is contingent on removing Saddam, who invaded neighboring Kuwait in 1990 and months later lobbed Scud missiles at Saudi Arabia and Israel during the Gulf War.\n"This is not a matter of inspections. It is about disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and the Iraqi regime's compliance with all other Security Council resolutions," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in Washington.\nFrance, which is one of the five permanent Security Council members, said the world body should act quickly to test Iraq's motives. "This will, of course, be discussed in the coming days at the Security Council, but we must not lose time, act quickly, send in the inspectors," said Francois Rivasseau, a spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry.\nBritain, however, questioned Saddam's motives.\n"This apparent offer is bound to be treated with a high degree of skepticism by the international community," Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said.\nAnnan credited Bush with helping to bring about Iraq's decision. "I believe the president's speech galvanized the international community," he said.\nArab league chief Amr Moussa turned out to be pivotal in the negotiations with Iraq, using the backing of Arab states to push through a deal meant to avert U.S. military action in Iraq.\nWhile the United States and its allies have long agreed that something needed to be done about Iraq, they were bitterly divided over what to do. Now the contrasting goals and approaches will likely make it much harder for the United States to get the resolution it wants.\nU.N. weapons inspectors were put in place after the Gulf War under resolutions which tied Iraq's disarmament to the lifting of punishing U.N. sanctions.\nBut the inspectors left Baghdad in December 1998 ahead of U.S. airstrikes, amid Iraqi allegations that some inspectors were spying for the United States and countercharges that Iraq wasn't cooperating with the teams. Since then, Baghdad had said it would let inspectors back in only for a limited time and if the Security Council lifted the sanctions. It also tried at various times to control the makeup of the inspection teams.