U.S. and Russia differ over next step, as Annan seeks 'unity' and U.N. inspectors huddle with Iraqis

By CHARLES J. HANLEY
AP Special Correspondent       

UNITED NATIONS - As U.N. weapons inspectors moved ahead with plans to return to Iraq, the United States and Russia clashed on Tuesday over whether to take Baghdad at its word or impose a new ultimatum. ''We have seen this game before,'' said a skeptical Colin Powell.

The secretary of state reaffirmed Washington's call for a tough anti-Iraq resolution by the U.N. Security Council, despite Iraq's sudden about-face on inspections.

But Russia's foreign minister said he saw no immediate need for new U.N. demands if the inspectors are quickly dispatched. He was backed up by Arab leaders: Moscow's traditional allies. The ''logic of war'' may now be replaced by ''the logic of peace,'' said one.

The 15-member Security Council majority decided, despite a U.S. request for more time, to quickly schedule a meeting, possibly yesterday, with chief weapons inspector Hans Blix to discuss renewed inspections. The Americans, supported by Britain and Colombia, wanted first to prepare a new resolution, diplomats said.

Blix then met with Iraqi representatives, after which the weapons inspection agency said talks on final arrangements for the return of inspectors would take place ''and be concluded'' at a meeting in Vienna during the week of Sept. 30. Earlier Tuesday, the Iraqis said the talks would be held in 10 days.

In the Middle East, the business of preparing for war went on, as American warplanes flew under aggressive new rules over Iraq, and U.S. commanders considered basing heavy bombers closer by.

At a U.N. news conference at which Powell and Russia's Igor Ivanov laid out conflicting views, Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed for them to stick together on Iraq.

This is ''the beginning, not an end,'' he said. ''We should try to maintain the unity of purpose that has emerged.''

The Security Council then went into closed-door consultations on a timetable for dealing with the fast-changing Iraq issue.

The council sent weapons inspectors into Iraq after the 1990-91 Gulf War, to ensure that President Saddam Hussein's regime destroyed any chemical or biological weapons it possessed, and any capacity to produce those or nuclear weapons.

The inspectors left in 1998, ahead of U.S. airstrikes, amid Iraqi allegations that some were spying for the United States and countercharges that Baghdad wasn't cooperating with the inspection teams.

The international ''unity of purpose'' Annan cited emerged after President Bush, in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly last Thursday, forcefully called for the Security Council to threaten action against Iraq if it did not allow the inspectors back.

If the world body didn't act, Bush made clear, Washington would feel free to launch a military attack.

Bush made the opening move in what may become a high-stakes diplomatic chess game.

Iraq's surprise reply came late Monday, in a letter to Annan in which Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said Baghdad would allow the inspectors back ''without conditions'' in order to ''remove any doubts that Iraq still possesses weapons of mass destruction.''

On Tuesday, Annan told reporters that chief inspector Blix ''is ready to move as quickly as is practicable.''

Asked when the inspectors might actually return to Baghdad, Iraqi representative Saeed Hasan replied, ''It depends on Mr. Blix's arrangements.''

The secretary-general indicated he didn't believe any formal reauthorization is needed from the Security Council, whose previous resolutions set out specific conditions for their return.

The Bush administration late Monday had dismissed the Iraqi move as a ploy to split the Security Council. On Tuesday, Powell was equally dismissive.

''We cannot just take a one-and-a-quarter-page  letter as the end of this matter,'' Powell told reporters. ''We have seen this game before''

He did not specify what Washington would seek in a new resolution - a firm deadline, a threat of force or other tough elements. But he said the council should discuss an inspection plan and the ''consequences'' of an Iraqi failure to comply. Washington stressed the need for unrestricted access for the inspectors.

Russia's Ivanov said it was important that Baghdad, which previously had sought an easing of anti-Iraq U.N. sanctions, had placed no preconditions on the inspectors' return.

''Whether we can trust this letter or not, I think that only facts alone can corroborate this,'' he said. ''We need to bring about the speedy return of inspectors to Iraq.''

He said a new Security Council resolution is unneeded. ''All the necessary resolutions, all the necessary decisions on that are in existing council documents,'' he said.

His government's veto power can block any resolution it opposes.

Arab foreign ministers, meeting in New York, welcomed Iraq's readiness to allow inspectors back and expressed hope that a ''positive response by the United Nations'' will lead to the lifting of sanctions and the ''alleviation of the suffering of the Iraqi people,'' the Arab League said in a statement.

Speaking for the European Union, the Danish foreign minister, Per Stig Moeller, said the council should take up the question of whether Iraq's letter meets its demands. And meantime, he added on a skeptical note, ''I would sleep with my eyes wide open and with my boots on.''

Ambassador Alfonso Valdivieso of Colombia, a Security Council member, also was skeptical, saying he believed additional pressure - a deadline - needed to be placed on Iraq to ensure compliance.

Arab spokesmen were more positive.

Iraq's letter raises hopes that ''the logic of war will finally be replaced by the logic of peace,'' Algeria's president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, said in an address to the General Assembly. Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmed Maher, said he saw no need for new resolutions. ''The problem was weapons of mass destruction. Now we found a way to resume the inspections,'' he said.

Speaking to reporters, the Iraqi minister, Sabri, said he hoped for a ''smooth'' resumption of inspections, ''with no pressures, no complications, so we can finish this job quickly.''

Certification of Iraqi disarmament would lead to a lifting of U.N. sanctions.

Out in the Middle East, meanwhile, the U.S. military prepared for possible confrontation.

The Pentagon disclosed it had ordered pilots, as they patrol Iraqi skies, to attack command and communications links in Iraq's anti-aircraft system. It also said it might base B-2 stealth bombers on Britain's Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia; that would halve their normal flight time from U.S. bases to Iraq. And the U.S. Navy said it was trying to contract a commercial ship to move military equipment to the Persian Gulf.