U.N. begins search of Iraq

U.S. continues plans for war with Saddam

? After a four-year absence, international inspectors on Wednesday resumed their search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and a U.N. team leader in the field called the initial cooperation by Iraqi authorities “a good sign.”

But even as the inspections began without incident, the Bush administration shifted its war planning into high gear. A senior administration official said Wednesday that the White House would dispatch a handful of senior envoys across the globe over the next few weeks to close deals with potential allies in a possible war with Iraq.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz leaves Sunday on the first mission in the new campaign to build a war coalition prepared to act if Iraq fails to satisfy the inspectors that it has surrendered its suspected arsenal. Wolfowitz is scheduled to visit NATO headquarters in Belgium, as well as Britain and Turkey. The administration plans additional trips to potential allies in Russia, East Asia, South Asia and Iraq’s neighbors in the Middle East and Persian Gulf.

The high-level diplomatic effort underscores the administration’s determination to be ready to rapidly attack if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein fails to cooperate with the weapons inspectors.

The first day of inspections, at least, appeared to go smoothly. The 17 monitors who began their work Wednesday were divided into two groups, with six concentrating on potential nuclear sites, the other 11 on possible biological or chemical weapons-related complexes.

In Baghdad, Jacques Baute, who led inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the team in charge of nuclear arms, said: “We have not sensed anything which obstructed us. We were welcomed in a polite and professional manner, and we were able to do the job.”

The other group of inspectors, a convoy of U.N. monitors, visited a military-run graphite plant and a missile-testing facility next door at the Al Rafah science research center, 15 miles southwest of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.

Military guards quickly opened the gate to the compound, and the inspectors disappeared inside. They emerged about five hours later to say only that they had been granted immediate access.

The sites selected Wednesday had been scrutinized during inspections years ago.

“It went according to plans altogether,” chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix said at the world body’s headquarters after receiving reports from staff members conducting the searches. “We are on a firm path forward.”

Promising more inspections “in all shapes and forms,” Blix emphasized the surprise nature of the searches: “We aren’t telling anyone in advance where we are going.”

The U.N. resolution passed unanimously by the U.N. Security Council on Nov. 8 authorizes the inspectors to go anywhere at any time. The resolution also includes a series of deadlines, and an important one comes Dec. 8, when Baghdad must declare any weapons of mass destruction. By Jan. 27, the inspectors are required to issue their first report to the Security Council.

Wednesday in Paris, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told Europe radio that “the only way to avoid a military conflict” is by cooperating with the searches.

But he added, “I do not believe war is inevitable.”

The United States, however, is preparing for war. The diplomatic effort that will begin this weekend ratchets up conversations the administration has already initiated with potential allies, officials said.

“This is a natural extension of the process” that began with sending cables to U.S. embassies two weeks ago, asking what help the administration could expect from their host countries, a senior State Department official said Wednesday. That process continued with President Bush’s approach to European allies at last week’s NATO summit in the Czech Republic, the official said.

“We know from 12 years of dealing with Saddam Hussein that the best way to avoid armed conflict ” perhaps the only way ” is to keep the pressure up,” the official said.

Turkey is the most important stop on Wolfowitz’s schedule. Pentagon planners believe they need only limited military support from well-trained forces in nations such as Britain but seek as broad a coalition as possible, the senior administration official said.

The new campaign is aimed largely at uncommitted but potentially crucial allies ” among them Turkey ” who could supply basing and overflight rights, and those that could help in peacekeeping and other postwar tasks.

Wolfowitz’s visit to Turkey comes when that nation stands at a significant juncture. It is both looking westward, aspiring to join the European Union at a summit Dec. 12 in Copenhagen, and adjusting to the governance of the newly elected Justice and Development Party, which has strong Islamic roots.

Bush administration envoys have in recent months lobbied Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, the military and others within the secular government’s bureaucracy. They now must make their case with the new government.

During his visit to the Turkish capital, Ankara, Wolfowitz is expected to argue that Turkey will make political, security and economic gains after Saddam is toppled. Turkey, whose new government came to power promising to lift the nation out of its recession, holds a natural advantage in trading with Iraq once sanctions are lifted.

Flights over the no-fly zones over north and south Iraq have appeared to come under increasing fire in recent weeks as the inspections neared. On Wednesday, an air raid siren sounded several hours after the initial inspections, as a vapor trail from what Iraqi officials called “a hostile flight” was seen over Baghdad.

“It was not a coalition aircraft. It was not a U.N. aircraft,” said Lt. Col Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman. “It seems strange that a hostile aircraft would fly over Baghdad and they would not shoot at it.”