Arab officials urge Iraq to accept U.N. resolution

CAIRO, Egypt -- Arab foreign ministers urged Saddam Hussein on Sunday to accept the U.N. Security Council resolution ordering new, tougher weapons inspections and demanded that Arab arms experts be included on the U.N. teams.\nThe ministers adopted the eight-point statement shortly after the Iraqi leader ordered his nation's parliament to meet to recommend a response to the U.N. resolution, which was adopted Friday and gives Baghdad a seven-day deadline for acceptance. Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said parliament would convene Monday.\nThe United Nations is not obliged to heed the Arab ministers' demand on weapons inspectors, adopted at the end of a two-day meeting of the 22-member Arab League in Cairo.\nThe United States, meanwhile, warned it will not tolerate any Iraqi failure to cooperate with weapons inspectors. \n"We do not need to waste the world's time with another game of cat and mouse," National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice warned while making the rounds of Sunday news talk shows in Washington.\nArab foreign ministers, including Sabri, worked into the evening on a final communique that demanded Iraq and the United Nations work together and called on the United States to commit to pledges Syria said it was given that the resolution would not be used to justify military action.\nThe Arab ministers "called on the permanent Security Council members who presented Syria with assurances to commit to what they presented, that the resolution is not used as an excuse to wage war on Iraq and does not constitute automatic military action," the statement said.\nThe Arab League document did not specify how many Arab experts it wants on inspection teams or say which countries they should represent.\nHowever, Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is an Egyptian, and would be on the advance team of inspectors headed to Iraq if Saddam accepts the resolution. ElBaradei's agency is in charge of looking for clandestine nuclear arms programs.\nA spokesman for the U.N. inspection operation said a list of inspectors and their country of origin was not immediately available.\nThe Arab League document also demanded "the continuation of U.N.-Iraq cooperation to solve all standing issues peacefully in preparation for the lifting of sanctions and the end of the (U.N.) embargo as well as the suffering of the Iraqi people."\nIt put forward a united Arab position of "absolute rejection" of any military action against Iraq, saying it represents a threat to the security of all Arab nations.\nIn addition, it called on the Security Council to require Israel to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction because they "constitute a serious threat to Arab and international peace and security."\nArab foreign ministers have said they fully expect Iraq to accept the U.N. resolution.\nRice dismissed the prospect of Saddam seeking parliament's advice as "ludicrous."\n"Saddam Hussein is an absolute dictator and tyrant, and the idea that somehow he expects the Iraqi parliament to debate this -- they've never debated anything else," Rice said Sunday on the ABC network's "This Week" program. "I'm surprised he's even bothering to go through this ploy."\nIraq's parliament is stacked with Saddam's allies. Should parliament recommend acceptance to the Revolutionary Command Council, led by Saddam, he would have some cover for retreating from previous objections to any new language in a resolution governing weapons inspections.\nIn brief remarks to journalists on Sunday, Sabri said only that the Arab position is firm in rejecting any United States use of military force. He said Saturday that "no decision has been taken" by Baghdad on cooperating with the resolution. But if Saddam fails to follow through, U.S. officials have said a Pentagon plan calls for more than 200,000 troops to invade Iraq.\nBritain sent similar signals, with Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon telling Sky News on Sunday that his country is prepared for possible military action against Iraq should diplomatic efforts to disarm Saddam fail.