US wants Hussein out, with or without arms inspections

The US will seek the removal of President Saddam Hussein whether or not he allows a resumption of UN weapons inspections in Iraq, a US official said on Wednesday.

"The case for regime change is broader than just WMD (weapons of mass destruction)," the official told Reuters, speaking on condition that he not be identified.

US allies have called on Washington to give the United Nations and other international bodies a chance to try diplomacy before any military action.

Iraq's neighbour Turkey, the only Muslim member of Nato which has been providing a base for current US military flights over northern Iraq, reiterated its opposition to any imminent military action.

China and India, the world's two most populous nations, stressed their opposition to the use of force, and staunch US ally Hosni Mubarak of Egypt has warned of widespread unrest across the Arab world should the United States act alone.

Scepticism also surfaced on Capital Hill. Senator John Warner of Virginia, top Republican on the US Senate Armed Services Committee, called for more congressional inquiry into President George W. Bush's demand for "regime change" in Iraq.

Citing what he called a "crescendo" of debate, Warner said the committee should hear from Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, widely seen as a leading supporter of pre-emptive military action. The House of Representatives was planning hearings of its own.

But the US official called Saddam a supporter of terrorism and a threat to the region, saying these were also crucial parts of the US case against the Iraqi leader, with the demand for weapons inspections.

Asked whether there was anything Saddam could do to change the US determination to oust him, the official said there was not. "Regime change is the policy of this government," he said.

Washington would, however, keep pressing Saddam to readmit UN inspectors and honour his commitments to disarm, he said.

The United Nations evacuated its inspectors from Iraq in December 1998, accusing the Iraqis of obstructing their work.

Within weeks the United States and Britain staged Operation Desert Fox, a massive four-night bombing campaign against suspected Iraqi weapons facilities, missile sites and other military targets.The weapons inspectors have not returned.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan declined to say directly whether Saddam could avoid a US attempt to oust him. However, "this is a regime that needs to be changed," he told reporters covering Bush during his vacation Texas.

Widespread disquiet abroad has been increasingly mirrored at home, and analysts say the issue could become central to the November congressional elections.

"There is no question... we've taken a major step towards preparing for war," said military analyst Ken Allard, a retired Army colonel and adjunct national security professor at Georgetown University.

McClellan said the White House would cooperate with the planned congressional hearings - in contrast with its unwillingness to send representatives to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Iraq last month. "We look forward to participating and being cooperative with Congress as those hearings are held," he said.

The White House on Monday said Bush's lawyers had concluded he did not need formal congressional approval to attack Iraq, although it left the door open to seeking a vote of support. Key Democrats and some Republicans responded by demanding Bush seek approval for any attack.

Former assistant defense secretary Lawrence Korb, vice president of the Council on Foreign Relations think tank, said the administration appeared to be fighting to regain momentum for attacking Iraq.

Some senior former Republican foreign policy and defence officials have spoken out against an attack in recent weeks, adding to the sense of disunity in the president's own party.

Bush's special Middle East envoy, retired Marine General Anthony Zinni, was one of the latest to raise his voice when he said an attack would be antagonistic to US allies in the region, according to Florida newspaper reports of a speech he delivered last Friday.

"It's pretty interesting that all the generals see it the same way," Zinni said of reservations about an attack, "and all the others who have never fired a shot and are hot to go to war see it another way."

McClellan said the White House regarded such comments as reflecting a "healthy debate" encouraged by Bush.