U.S. Targets Date For War Vote

With the United States moving toward a vote next week to approve military action against Iraq, Secretary-General Kofi Annan declared Tuesday that war must be a last resort and called Baghdad's missile destruction "a positive development."

Annan said top inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei will be giving their next progress report to the Security Council Friday on Iraq's cooperation with U.N. inspections and the 15 council members will then have to make a judgment on the U.S.-backed resolution, which is co-sponsored by Britain and Spain.

"The inspectors have to report the facts, and as I've indicated this is a positive development," he said of Baghdad's start on the destruction its Al Samoud 2 missiles. Since Saturday, 19 of about 100 missiles have been destroyed.

Annan said war is "a human catastrophe" that should only be considered when all possibilities for "peaceful settlement have been exhausted."

On Monday, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said the United States expects a vote "quite soon" after top weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei report Friday on Iraqi compliance.

"Our view is that we don't need to debate this very simple and straightforward resolution," Negroponte said.

A U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity said "all indications are that the vote would be next week." As one of the sponsors of the resolution, along with Britain and Spain, the United States can call for a vote at any time.

Most council diplomats predicted a vote for March 13, six months after President Bush went to the United Nations seeking international support for the disarmament of Iraq.

The president's call to action on Sept. 12 was quickly followed by an Iraqi decision to allow weapons inspectors to return after nearly four years. It also spurred the council to adopt unanimously a U.S.-drafted resolution in November that called on Iraq to disarm and cooperate with inspectors.

The United States, Britain and Spain believe Iraq failed the tests laid out in that resolution. Their new proposed resolution would give them Security Council authorization to disarm Iraq through force.

But the majority of the council is wary of the U.S.-driven position and two separate groups are searching for alternatives to war.

France, backed by Russia, Germany and China has suggested beefing up the inspections regime and extending its work at least through July 1.

Russia's Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, hardening Moscow's opposition to quick military action, indicated Russia may use its veto against the U.S.-backed resolution.

Russia "will not support any decision that would directly or indirectly open the way to war with Iraq," Ivanov said, through a translator on BBC World Service radio. "Abstaining is not a position Russia can take. We have to have a clear position, and we are for a political solution."

Chile and other Security Council members spent several hours late Monday listening to a Canadian compromise proposal that would set a series of benchmarks Iraq would have to meet by the end of the month, when the council would then decide whether Iraq had complied.

Cristian Maquieira, the deputy Chilean ambassador, said Canada's proposal was "a positive step but we are far still from getting a document." The Canadian ideas were rejected last week by Washington as well as by France, Russia and Germany.

U.S. officials have said they would be open to suggestions on their resolution but would not negotiate the substance of it. If the council rejects the U.S.-backed draft, Mr. Bush has said he is prepared to fight with a coalition of willing nations.

But the Turkish government might not join that coalition, after its parliament refused to allow in more than 60,000 U.S. troops before an Iraq war. Rescheduling a vote could take two weeks, and it is not clear that the U.S. would be willing to wait that long.

Still, U.S. generals commanding some 230,000 troops in the region have declared themselves ready to attack. Perhaps because of that threat, weapons inspectors are suddenly receiving Iraqi cooperation on issues that have dogged them for months.

Iraq met a Saturday deadline to begin destroying its Al Samoud 2 missile system, banned because its range may be slightly greater than allowed. It is slicing up banned casting chambers used to make another missile, the Al Fatah.

Workers have unearthed buried bombs they say are loaded with anthrax, aflatoxin and botulin toxin, and inspectors are analyzing the contents. Iraq is readying a letter to the United Nations that proposes verifying it has gotten rid of anthrax and deadly VX nerve agent.

A manager associated with Iraq's former chemical weapons program gave an interview Monday evening and a scientist gave one Tuesday afternoon, inspections spokesman Hiro Ueki said. Five scientists have now been interviewed in as many days. The United Nations has asked to speak to more than 30 scientists since December.

Inspectors on Tuesday visited a factory that makes remotely piloted vehicles, an oil facility and a chemical installation, as well as a customs office in the northern city of Mosul, Ueki said.

In a letter marking the Islamic new year Tuesday, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said Iraq will defeat any invaders.

"We believe, with the coming of the Islamic new year and with God's help, we will be victorious against the tyrant," he said. "The believers will triumph over tyranny and its accomplices."