Russians Get Earful On Iraq

President Bush will use personal diplomacy Friday to try to persuade Russia to drop its objections to a "new, different and strong" U.N. resolution on disarming Iraq.

But Russian President Vladimir Putin told President Bush Friday morning that the priority in the Iraq crisis was to secure the fastest possible return to Baghdad of U.N. arms inspectors, Interfax news agency said.

"Putin stressed that in the current situation it was vital to concentrate on the fastest possible deployment of U.N. inspection and monitoring missions," Interfax reported.

CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller reports Mr. Bush also will meet in the Oval Office Friday with the Russian foreign and defense ministers.

The White House acknowledged that the long-scheduled meeting with the two senior Russian officials to discuss implementation of a landmark treaty cutting U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals could turn to Iraq and the president's determination to oust Saddam Hussein.

Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov are scheduled to talk about how to execute the Treaty of Moscow signed in May. The pact mandates the reduction of both Russian and U.S. deployed nuclear weapons from about 6,000 to between 1,700 and 2,200 by the year 2012.

"If the president or the foreign minister or the defense minister wished to bring up other issues, certainly I would imagine both sides would be prepared to discuss those issues, including Iraq," said National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack.

Since Russia is a permanent member of the UN security council, and can veto any action, the U.S. needs the Kremlin's backing for a tough stand on Iraq.

While the president prepared to meet the two Ivanovs, The Washington Times newspaper reported that U.S. military planners saw February as the best time to start a war against Iraq.

The newspaper quoted two defense sources as saying February would be the most likely time to strike at Iraq and that hostilities would probably be over no later than April, before the heat of the Middle East spring and summer set in.

The International Monetary Fund's managing director, Horst Koehler, warned in an interview with the International Herald Tribune that a short, successful war with Iraq could benefit the world economy but if the action got bogged down it could hinder global recovery.

In Vienna, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, whose country also has a Security Council veto, said on Friday that Iraq should let weapons inspectors in without conditions, but gave no hint about China's attitude towards a new Security Council resolution.

Russia has said it sees no need for a new U.N. resolution on Iraq, complicating U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's efforts to negotiate tough language requiring Baghdad to disarm or face the consequences. Washington accuses Iraq of developing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

Iraq's offer this week to readmit U.N. arms inspectors after a four-year hiatus, made under international pressure, divided the Security Council and slowed Mr. Bush's drive for a new mandate for unfettered inspections backed by the threat of force.

In the days since, Mr. Bush has tried to stiffen international resolve and made clear his own growing impatience.

"For the sake of peace, for the sake of world security, for the sake of a viable United Nations, they must act," he said Thursday. "And if they don't have it in their will to do so, if they're not willing to fashion a resolution which is new and different and strong, and holds Iraq to account, holds them to the agreements they have made, the United States will be willing to do so."

Mr. Bush already has asked Congress for authority to "use all means," including military force if necessary, to disarm and overthrow Saddam if U.N. inspections cannot eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

The draft resolution restated the U.S. policy of "regime change" and laid out these goals: enforce U.N. Security Council resolutions; defend the national security interests of the United States against the threat posed by Iraq; and restore peace and security in the region.

The wording will be debated by members of Congress. Although some expressed doubts, initial reaction was generally positive, with an eye toward passage before Nov. 5 elections.

For Mr. Bush, the case against Saddam is closed.

"We know full well this is a man who has invaded two countries, this is a man who has poisoned his own people, this is man who's poisoned his neighbors, this is a man who says that Stalin is his hero, this is a man who hates, this is a man who doesn't believe in freedom, this is a man who has weapons of mass destruction and says he doesn't," Mr. Bush said. "He poses a serious threat to the American people."

Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council with the same veto power as the United States, China, France and Britain, wants to give inspectors a chance and believes no further U.N. action is necessary.

U.N. arms inspectors could "easily determine" whether or not Iraq was pursuing weapons of mass destruction, the Russian Defense Minister said on Thursday.

"It's not a question of trust or mistrust," Sergei Ivanov told reporters before meeting Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "It's a question of facts.

Plans for the U.N. weapons inspections are moving ahead, reports CBS News Correspondent Lou Miliano. The pressure is on chief weapons inspector Hans Blix to hit the ground running. He said he should be able to have an initial team on the ground by mid October, already with a short list of sites to check out.

"We will have some selected ones," he told reporters. "I won't tell either you or the Iraqis which ones, but we will select some sites that we think are interesting to go to in the early phases. It's not that it takes two months before we can send any guys out in the field. There will be some much earlier than that."

In spite of some reports the Iraqis are demanding some sites like presidential palaces be off-limits, Blix said the subject has not even been discussed.