US considers compromises in UN resolution on Iraq

Signaling progress, the United States and France moved closer to agreement in the UN Security Council, with Washington conceding the need to consult the world body before any attack against Iraq.

France, which has organised the main resistance to a tough US-British draft resolution, still wants the council to vote before any possible military strike against Iraq.

But diplomats said that Paris was seriously considering new US compromise language and discussing it with others who share its views.

"They could sort this out in an hour flat, but that doesn't mean they will," said one diplomat on the council, expecting late sometime next week at the latest.

The United States has drafted a resolution, co-sponsored by Britain, that broadens the rights of UN inspectors searching for any of Iraq's chemical, biological, nuclear or ballistic weapons programs after a nearly four-year hiatus.

It warns Baghdad of "serious consequences" and twice mentions Iraq being in "material breach," of UN resolutions dating back to a 1991 Gulf War cease-fire.

France, Russia, China and other nations consider "material breach" a hidden "trigger" that would allow Washington to attack Iraq, overthrow President Saddam Hussein and then contend the United Nations had authorized it.

While US officials have said publicly they would not initiate military action without some kind of consultation or debate among Security Council members, the new American proposals put this in writing. But Washington opposes any commitment to a council vote authorising a military strike.

The current US text says any failure of Iraq to comply with terms of the new resolution "shall constitute a further material breach." The compromise language would say that such a breach would have to be "considered" by the Security Council after UN weapons inspectors report on Baghdad's cooperation, diplomats told Reuters.

In contrast France, worried the Bush administration would act on its own, wants a two-phased process that would include a council "decision" before any warfare.

But US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Tuesday that "our basic principles remain the same," an apparent reference to the need for Washington to maintain its freedom of action.

"Clear indictment of Saddam Hussein's past behavior and current behavior has to be in the resolution," Powell told a State Department news conference.

"We're hard at work and I think we are getting closer," he said. Asked how long the United States could wait, he said, "I don't want to give you days or a week but it certainly isn't much longer than that."

The 15 council members meet again on Wednesday to discuss the resolution as the leaders of UN weapons inspection teams go to Washington for the second time in a month, this time for meetings with US President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Hans Blix, the UN chief weapons inspector, and Mohammed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency are expected to explain how they would conduct inspections if they were to resume.

Blix is executive chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspections Commission, which is in charge of accounting for Iraq's chemical and biological arms and ballistic missiles. ElBaradei's Vienna-based agency is responsible for checking for Iraq's nuclear weapons.

The two UN officials also have hinted the United States should modify other provisions in the text.

One is a demand for an exhaustive list of weapons and related materials within 30 days. Blix told council members the deadline might be too short for Iraq to account for its large civilian chemical programs, particularly materials used in its oil industry.

He and ElBaradei also questioned a proposal that would give them the right to take Iraqi scientists and their families out of the country for interviews.

"There would be great practical difficulties in using such authority, unless there was cooperation by the Iraqi side," they said in their written notes to the council.

A council resolution needs a minimum of nine votes for adoption and no veto from any of its five permanent members - the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China.

The other 10 elected members, who rotate for two year terms are: Bulgaria, Cameroon, Colombia, Guinea, Ireland, Mauritius, Mexico, Norway, Singapore and Syria. Washington gained support from Mauritius, which had been critical of its draft resolution.

Foreign Minister Anil Gayan said that he hoped for a compromise. But in the event there was no unanimity "Mauritius would support the draft resolution presented by the United States, subject to some modification proposed by the arms inspectors," he said.