Britain, France Get Ready For Iraq

French President Jacques Chirac on Tuesday called on troops to be ready for deployment, alluding to a possible war against Iraq in the clearest signal yet France would participate in military move against Baghdad.

British defense secretary Geoff Hoon later Tuesday announced the initial activation of 1,500 reservists, reports CBS News Correspondent Steve Holt, and also sent a naval amphibious force in the region.

At the same time, the United Nations weapons inspectors in Iraq began using helicopters, giving them more mobility and surprise.

"To be prepared is at the heart of the soldier's job," Chirac said during annual New Year's wishes to the armed forces. "Particularly, we have to be attentive to the way in which United Nations Security Council resolution 1441 is applied by Iraq."

Paris forced changes to last year's U.N. resolution paving the way for conflict in Iraq, and has consistently opposed unilateral American action, reports CBS News Correspondent Elaine Cobbe, but with this call, Chirac has made it clear he's ready to send French troops to fight alongside Americans.

CBS News Correspondent Lee Cowan in Baghdad reports the inspectors used three helicopters Tuesday to go to a site about 240 miles west of Baghdad toward the Syrian border. Inspectors on the ground visited at least six sites, including a missile factory and a cancer research center.

The helicopters have been assembled over the past few weeks and their use was expected.

The helicopters were said to be making an aerial survey, but U.N. officials have said the choppers also would make it easier to swoop down on potential weapons sites.

Chirac said there was reason to believe that French forces will continue to be needed in certain "operational theaters," a reference to Ivory Coast, where more than 2,000 French troops are currently engaged.

However, he added that, "alas, other (theaters) could open up," a reference to Iraq.

Paris has been opposed to unilateral American action in Iraq and has demanded that Washington get U.N. Security Council approval before sending in the troops if Baghdad does not prove it has given up all its banned weapons.

French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told French radio station RTL earlier Tuesday that the French army was not making specific preparations for an eventual war in Iraq but that "the French army is ready to fulfill its obligations when necessary."

Alliot-Marie reiterated France's stance on Iraq, saying that any armed intervention must be used only as a last resort in forcing Saddam Hussein to comply with U.N. disarmament resolutions.

She added that for the moment, U.N. weapons inspectors have faced "no hindrances" in the course of their work.

Under a Security Council resolution unanimously approved in November, U.N. inspectors are in Iraq to determine whether Saddam Hussein still has chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. The United States and Britain have accused Iraq of clandestine arms programs, which Iraq denies.

The U.N. inspectors' first report is due on Jan. 27, a deadline which Washington has identified as the point at which President Bush would begin his decision-making on whether to go to war to disarm Saddam and end his 35-year rule.

Answering charges leveled by Saddam Hussein, the U.N. inspectors insist that they're not spying at all, they're inspecting and they're doing nothing else, reports Cowan. These are the same accusations that Saddam Hussein made back in 1998 when he denied U.N. inspectors access to several sensitive sites. The criticism from Saddam Hussein isn't new, it's just new in this round of inspections.

Hoon also announced that a "significant" force of Royal Navy vessels, including the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, would be sent to the Mediterranean to train for possible action in the Gulf "if and as required."

Hoon said the mobilization did not mean war with Iraq was either imminent or inevitable. But it is the latest move to increase the pressure on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Prime Minister Tony Blair is President Bush's strongest supporter in the showdown with Saddam Hussein, but public opinion is not solidly behind military action. Some members of Parliament are demanding a formal vote, before British troops are committed.

Blair's office said Hoon's announcement "delivers on ... our promise that we would make preparations in case military action is needed.

"Our hope is still that military action will not be needed, but one lesson history teaches us is that Saddam only responds if he believes that he has no other choice," said Blair's official spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In Vienna on Monday, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, whose inspectors have been in Iraq for two months, said it was still too early to determine whether the Mideast nation was trying to develop nuclear weapons.

"We are not certain of Iraq's (nuclear) capability," Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters at the end of a top-level meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.

On Tuesday, Iraq's official newspapers reacted with skepticism to President Bush's latest statement suggesting war was not inevitable. Mr. Bush said Monday that Saddam has still "got time" to eliminate all chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and long-range rockets.

The daily Al-Iraq said it was too early to say whether Bush's statement represented "a change or a deception." But it added the U.S. Administration "may have discovered, even if it is late, that any aggression on our homeland will be costly."

The daily Babil, run by Saddam's son Odai, referred to Bush's remarks as "oral maneuvers" and added: "The United States and the war mongers are still sending more troops to the region."

Echoing a speech by Saddam on Iraq's Army Day Monday, the newspaper's editorial said the U.S. goal was not only to target Iraq, but to control the vast oil resources of the Middle East. It called on fellow Arab states to "abort the ... new savagery."