Global Policy Forum

By Julia Preston

With some American allies forcefully reaffirming their support for the United States' campaign to persuade the United Nations to bear down on the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, differences with other influential nations emerged sharply today.

In Britain's strongest statement yet on the issue, the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, said in a Sky Television interview to be broadcast Sunday that Mr. Hussein's government will have to fall if it does not comply with Security Council resolutions requiring it to rid itself of biological, chemical or nuclear weapons. "Either he deals with those weapons of mass destruction or his regime will have to end," Mr. Straw said. "But the choice is his, and he hasn't got much time to make up his mind."

In an address today to the General Assembly, Mr. Straw closely echoed President Bush's appeal here on Thursday, saying, "The authority of the United Nations itself is at stake."

In contrast, Germany's foreign minister, Joschka Fisher, who spoke soon after, said that Germany was "full of deep skepticism" about the United States' threat of military action to topple Mr. Hussein if he did not abide by United Nations resolutions. Contending that international efforts to fight terror, rebuild Afghanistan and calm the conflict in the Middle East could be destabilized by a military strike against Iraq, he appealed for a diplomatic solution.

President Bush, who met at Camp David today with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, noted in his weekly radio broadcast that Congress was scheduled to begin debate on the Iraq issue next week, and added, "Congress must make it unmistakably clear that when it comes to confronting the growing danger posed by Iraq's efforts to develop or acquire weapons of mass destruction, the status quo is totally unacceptable."

After an initial warm response to President Bush's decision to work through the United Nations to confront Iraq, many nations were more vocal about their reluctance to use a military force to topple the Iraqi leader.

Late on Friday, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan said in a news conference here that he had told President Bush in a meeting earlier that "the use of force is a last resort when there are no other options." While not a Security Council member this year, Japan is a politically important voice at the United Nations.

Now that the Bush administration is engaged with the Security Council on the issue, American diplomats, led by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, face a tricky task to craft a new resolution that will not go beyond the limited aim of most Council members to bring new pressure on Iraq for the inspectors' return. To meet Washington's goal, the resolution must also leave the way open for the United States to spearhead military action.

After a closed meeting here, the foreign ministers of the Arab Group declined to issue any joint appeal to Iraq to allow the return of the inspectors.

Only Egypt pressed Iraq's foreign minister, Naji Sabri, forcefully to readmit the inspectors, while others did not respond to an appeal by Secretary General Kofi Annan for help in getting them back in. The inspectors were withdrawn in late 1998 in advance of an American and British bombing raid on Baghdad, and have been barred bv Iraq since.

President Bush urged the United Nations "to show some backbone" on Iraq and made clear he was prepared to confront Mr. Hussein with or without world support.

"Not once, not twice, 16 times, he has defied the United Nations," Mr. Bush said of Mr. Hussein. "Enough is enough."

"Make no mistake about it," he added, If the United States has "to deal with the problem, we'll deal with it."

American diplomats, who have been pressing their case on all fronts, have made significant progress with Russia, a permanent, veto-bearing member of the Security Council. On Friday Russia issued a new warning to Iraq, saying that it would face consequences if it did not comply with United Nations resolutions.

A senior Bush administration official who negotiated with the Russians this week said the main argument has been economic. The message to the Russians, he said, is that "they're a lot more likely to get their debts paid off and have a better commercial relationship with Iraq if it's part of the international community again."

The official said the United States had not made specific offers, but did not rule out the possibility of negotiating explicit guarantees for Russian interests, mostly oil-related.

One area where differences loomed between the United States and other Council countries was over the role of the weapons inspectors. Many Council nations wanted to see a new measure that would secure the return of the inspectors and also allow them enough time to conduct substantial inspections. That could take at least six months, according to timetables laid out in earlier resolutions.

The Bush administration has outlined a much shorter time frame to see if Mr. Hussein has dismantled his weapons of mass destruction.

In an interview on Wednesday, Hans Blix, the leader of the team of inspectors in charge of checking for biological and chemical weapons and long-range missiles, acknowledged that there were some limitations to what his team could accomplish even if it was allowed to return.

Mr. Blix said his inspectors might not be able to detect mobile laboratories for producing biological weapons materials, or underground storehouses for weapons substances, if the inspectors did not have information about such sites from the last time they were in Iraq or have not seen traces of them in satellite surveillance photography.

Mr. Blix said he had no evidence at this time that Iraq had such mobile units or storage depots or had pressed ahead with a prohibited weapons program. But he said he could not draw conclusions without inspections.

He argued that the presence of the weapons inspectors in Iraq would have great value because it would make it difficult for Mr. Hussein to complete production and placement of such weapons.

"If they were actually trying to pursue a program, then such an effort would become much more difficult if you have inspectors that are entitled to go anywhere in the country at any time without delay," Mr. Blix said.