U.N. Adds New Restrictions For Iraq

At the request of the United States and Britain, the Security Council voted in favor of new restrictions on Iraqi imports Monday in an effort to prevent Baghdad from acquiring equipment that could be used in war.

Russia and Syria abstained from the vote, arguing that the changes hurt deliveries of humanitarian goods to Iraq, which has been subject to international economic sanctions for more than a decade.

Meanwhile, U.N. weapons inspectors searched at least six sites in Iraq for banned weapons, provoking ire at a missile factory they inspected for the fourth time.

The tours included three new sites — the Central Health Laboratory, the General Commission of Plants Protection and the al-Mahmoudiya water purification station on the Euphrates River, where inspectors examined materials that have both civilian and military uses.

One team made a fourth visit to the al-Samood missile factory about 25 miles west of Baghdad, to the plant manager's distress.

Factory manager Hussein Mohammed complained to reporters that the U.N. inspectors had "stormed in" and unnecessarily disrupted his workers.

"As soon as they entered the site, they spread everywhere, acting like gangs," Mohammed said. "They went to all workshops and buildings inside the site. They prevented anyone from in entering or exiting. They behaved in a provocative manner."

The government-owned al-Samood factory manufactures components for al-Samood missiles, which have a normal range of about 30 miles. U.N. resolutions bar Iraq from having missiles with a range of more than 90 miles. U.S. and British intelligence reports contend Iraq is extending the al-Samood's range beyond permitted limits.

Mohammed's complaint echoed remarks last week by Lt. Gen. Hossam Mohammed Amin, Iraq's chief liaison to the U.N. arms experts, that the U.N. inspections were becoming "annoying."

On both occasions, U.N. inspectors declined to comment.

In Washington Sunday, Secretary of State Colin Powell said U.N. inspectors, working with U.S.-supplied intelligence information, should be given time to ferret out Iraq's weapons before any decision is made to apply military force.

On CBS News' Face The Nation, Powell insisted Saddam Hussein's regime posed a more immediate threat than North Korea.

"I think the case has been made, maybe not to the satisfaction of all, that this is a regime that has pursued weapons of mass destruction in the past, has had weapons of mass destruction in the past, and we believe continues to have weapons of mass destruction and has lost none of its desire to produce them," he said.

Still, Powell said the United States has yet to decide whether to attack Iraq.

"The president has not made a decision yet with respect to the use of military force or with respect to going back to the United Nations," Powell said in another interview. "And of course, we are positioning ourselves and positioning our military forces for whatever might be required."

Earlier this month, the United States proposed adding dozens of items — including antibiotics, broadcast equipment and fast boats — to an existing list of dual-use goods that the United Nations must approve before they can be purchased by Iraq.

Some of the items on the list will be banned outright, while others could be imported only after extensive scrutiny by the United Nations.

The U.S. diplomacy and came after a month of intense lobbying efforts to beef up the existing 419-page "goods review list," of items which Iraq cannot automatically purchase.

Russia and France had been tough to win over from the start. Syria, Iraq's closest council ally, was not expected to support the resolution, which passed 13-0.

While Russian diplomats said they were open to changes, they also wanted some items removed from the list, including Russian-made heavy trucks. But the United States and Britain wouldn't yield, arguing that such trucks are being used by the Iraqi military.

Russian Ambassador Sergey Lavrov, in explaining his abstention, argued that the trucks were for civilian use only and that holding up such sales impacts sectors of Iraq's economy. He urged the council to allow such sales to go through in the future.

France objected to tacking on to the list antibiotic drugs such as Cipro — which was used to combat anthrax last year in the United States — and atropine. Over the past six years, the United States approved Iraqi purchases of 3.5 million doses of the heart drug, which officials now fear could be used to protect Iraqi soldiers using nerve gas.

In a compromise, the sides agreed to limit the ban to high doses of the drugs which could be used to combat biological and chemical agents.

The 13-page resolution circulated by the United States on Monday is broken down into sections regarding biological, chemical, missile and conventions.

Experts from the five permanent Security Council members — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France — have been meeting throughout December to discuss the proposed changes to the goods review list. The U.S. effort has been spearheaded by U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton.

Under U.N. resolutions, the inspectors do not have to warn Iraq of their visits. The teams have been in Iraq for more than a month, arriving four years after the last examinations by a previous U.N. organization that left Iraq shortly before U.S. and British bombing in 1998.