Weapons inspector calls for armed back-up

By ANNE PENKETH

The top UN weapons inspector who oversaw the destruction of much of President Saddam Hussein's arsenal of chemical and biological weapons has called for an armed force of 50,000 men to back up the UN experts.

Rolf Ekeus, who was chief UN inspector from 1991 to 1997, said that such "coercive inspections" could offer Saddam Hussein a credible alternative to being overthrown by a US military intervention.

"Iraq may well accept if this is an alternative to an invasion," said Mr Ekeus, who now chairs the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

"The prospect of a military invasion may concentrate Saddam's mind."

The proposals are in a report to be released today by an influential US think tank, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Mr Ekeus said he was initially sceptical, but is now one of the authors of the report. His doubts evaporated following "hard-nosed feasibility discussions" with retired air force general Charles Boyd, the former deputy commander of US forces in Europe.

The UN weapons experts were systematically stymied by Iraqi authorities during years of monitoring Iraqi weapons of mass destruction in the 1990s, but had no means of direct enforcement themselves. Only the threat of US military strikes was able to force the Iraqis to end some tense standoffs.

The inspectors have been barred from Iraq since they were pulled out in December 1998 only hours before the US and Britain launched Operation Desert Fox.

The new plan calls for the UN Security Council to set up a "powerful, multinational military force" to back the inspections. The force would be composed of air cavalry and at least four brigade-sized units stationed in Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

"This is a simple and viable idea," said Mr Ekeus. "Saddam with his weapons - if he has them - is a serious international problem. Saddam without the weapons is an unpleasant local thug who is a problem for the Iraqi people.

"The key is if we can get rid of his weapons, we don't need to have bloodshed.

"The problem is to convince the international community and the American administration that the inspectors really can clean up the country. I believe in that," he said.

Bush administration hawks, such as the defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, are openly sceptical about the value of sending back the inspectors into Iraq, and are arguing for pre-emptive military action to overthrow President Saddam.

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