Global Policy Forum

By Richard Norton-Taylor and Helena Smith

The United States last night offered Saddam Hussein immunity from prosecution if his departure from Baghdad would avert war.

With only seven days to go before weapons inspectors deliver their crucial report to the UN security council, Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary and one of the Bush administration's leading hawks, dangled the prospect of a peaceful way out, despite the massive military build-up.

"If to avoid a war," Mr Rumsfeld said in a TV interview, "I would ... recommend that some provision be made so that the senior leadership in that country [Iraq] and their families could be provided haven in some other country."

Hours later, in what appeared to be a series of choreographed interviews, his more doveish rival in the US administration, Colin Powell, backed his remarks. Asked about a reported Saudi initiative to grant amnesty to senior Iraqi leaders, he said: "I would encourage Saddam Hussein, if he is getting any messages of this kind, to listen."

The hints from Washington added weight to an Arab initiative, backed by Saudi Arabia and others, that would urge the Iraqi leader to go into exile. Even if the US granted President Saddam immunity from prosecution, the viability of the Arab plan would depend on his willingness to give up power, something many believe he would never contemplate. Allowing the Iraqi leader to avoid a trial for alleged war crimes might also prove controversial. In London, the Foreign Office maintained its view that the main issue was disarming Iraq rather than removing President Saddam.

"The key issue is for Iraq to comply with its international obligations whatever group of people forms its leadership," a spokeswoman said.

Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector, began high-level meetings last night in Baghdad, saying: "We do not think that war is inevitable. We think that the inspection process that we are conducting is the peaceful alternative." Mr Rumsfeld piled the pressure on Iraq by saying that Washington would know "in a matter of weeks, not in months or years" whether Iraq was "cooperating fully with the inspectors". His comment contrasted with remarks by Mohammed el-Baradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Authority, who told the Guardian that UN monitors needed "a few more months". Mr el-Baradei and Mr Blix must report to the UN by January 27, a deadline imposed by a security council resolution. Last night, they had talks with President Saddam's scientific adviser, Amir al-Saadi, and General Hussam Mohammad Amin, head of Iraq's national monitoring directorate. "We are having good, constructive meetings," Mr el-Baradei told reporters. "I think [the Iraqis] have said that there are still certain areas where they are ready to provide more information," he added. "I think that in other areas they said they are ready to reconsider their position." UN officials said Baghdad last night revealed it had found four more empty chemical warheads similar to the dozen found by inspectors last week.

Faced with mounting pressure from the US and Britain to come up with hard evidence to prove President Saddam has been lying about nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, Mr Blix insisted: "It requires comprehensive inspections and it requires a very active Iraqi cooperation." He earlier accused Iraq of playing "a cheap game of chess". He was speaking after being forced to cancel inspections in northern Iraq's "no-fly" zone. The Iraqis insisted that UN helicopters had to be escorted by Iraqi ones.

Mr Blix played down the discovery of 3,000 documents in the home of the Iraqi physicist Faleh Hassan last week. The papers, found after a tip-off, were "not evidence of a weapon of mass destruction and are all pre-1990", he said. "We know very well they have dealt [in the past] with laser enrichment."

Gary Samore, a former proliferation expert at the US national security council, said that using laser technology to separate isotopes to enrich uranium was "very very demanding" and no country had produced it in that way. Mr Blix said he had no doubt Tony Blair would like to have a peaceful solution through inspections, adding that the prime minister had refused to "commit himself" during talks on Friday to a timetable regarding the monitoring.

· A statement purportedly written by Osama bin Laden urging Muslims to unite against the "crusader coalition" was published yesterday by the London-based Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat.

It said the statement was posted from a source in London with close links to a Pakistan-based Islamic centre known for ties to al-Qaida.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.