Iraq to destroy missiles

Iraq said yesterday it would obey UN orders to destroy its ballistic missiles, drawing reactions that underscored the deep rift in the UN Security Council over how best to make the country disarm.

France, a leader of the camp opposed to an invasion of Iraq, welcomed Baghdad's statement as "an important step in the disarmament of Iraq" and said it showed UN arms inspections were producing results.

Britain and Spain, which with the United States have drafted a Security Council resolution authorising the use of force against Iraq for failing to scrap weapons of mass destruction, dismissed Iraq's pledge and accused it of playing games.

The United States intensified its military build-up in the Gulf region, and President George W. Bush said Iraq would never give up its weapons willingly and must be disarmed by force, regardless of any Security Council vote.

Iraqi sources said Baghdad had told chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix it would obey his order to destroy its al-Samoud 2 ballistic missiles and could start dismantling them today, the deadline he had set.

UN inspectors in Baghdad said the destruction of the missiles might begin after technical talks they will hold with Iraq this morning. The United Nations says the missiles' 150-kilometre range exceeds the UN limit set in 1991.

A leaked draft of a crucial report Blix will make to the Security Council criticised Iraq for the "very limited" response to its disarmament obligations in the past three months.

"Iraq could have made greater efforts to find any remaining proscribed items or provide credible evidence showing the absence of such items," he wrote. "The results in terms of disarmament have been very limited so far."

But Blix said later at the United Nations that he might rewrite his report in light of the progress made on Iraq's missiles before presenting it to the Security Council.

Security Council members argued bitterly about whether to approve a war on Iraq, with veto-wielding permanent members deeply divided and smaller nations - under mounting pressure from both sides - urging them to seek unity.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, visiting Beijing, said Moscow would not support any resolution that opened the way for the use of force in Iraq and would use its veto "if necessary, in the interest of international stability."

But Bush told the newspaper USA Today: "My attitude about (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein is that if he had any intention of disarming he would have disarmed."

"We will disarm him now," he declared. The United States said earlier it was sending a sixth aircraft carrier and B-2 stealth bombers to the Gulf, where it already has hundreds of Air Force and Navy planes and some 200,000 ground troops ready for war.

In Madrid, British Prime Minister Tony Blair dismissed Iraq's pledge to begin dismantling its missiles.

"The moment I heard earlier in the week that Saddam Hussein was saying he would not destroy the missiles was the moment I knew that later in the week he would announce, just before Dr Blix reported, that he would indeed destroy these missiles," Blair said.

"This is not a time for games. He (Saddam) knows perfectly well what he has to do," Blair told a news conference after talks with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

Blair said he was confident the draft resolution would win Security Council support. Its backers need at least nine votes in favour and no veto from the five permanent members - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.

But French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, speaking after talks in Paris with his Greek counterpart George Papandreou, disputed Blair's assertion.

"There is no reason to discontinue the peaceful disarmament of Iraq. We are opposed to the draft second resolution, as is a majority of the Security Council, and notably Russia," he said.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, another opponent of war on Iraq, said in Brussels that the weapons inspectors "are making progress and we should continue on this path."

Bush, who has said he will attack Iraq without Security Council backing if necessary, told USA Today that regardless of any Security Council vote, "the most important part about whatever happens is that Saddam be disarmed."

Foreign ministers preparing for an Arab League summit in Egypt today dismissed US pressure to urge Saddam to resign, and several said there was broad agreement to search for peace and avoid interfering in Iraq's affairs.

Angry demonstrations against the US threat to attack Iraq erupted in Bahrain, headquarters of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, in the Yemeni capital Sanaa and in Cairo.