U.S. Not Softening on Iraq, Albright Says

WASHINGTON —  Dismissing charges by a former U.N. arms inspector that the Clinton administration has shied away from confrontation with Iraq, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Wednesday that the U.S. is prepared to use military force against President Saddam Hussein’s regime--but at a time and place of America’s choosing.

“If Iraq tries to break out of the strategic box, our response will be swift and strong,” Albright said in a tough-talking speech delivered at the annual convention of the American Legion in New Orleans.

“As we look ahead, we will decide how and when to respond to Iraq’s actions based on the threat they pose to Iraq’s neighbors, to regional security and to U.S. vital interests,” she said. “Our assessment will include Saddam’s capacity to reconstitute, use or threaten to use weapons of mass destruction.”

Her speech followed recent criticism by former U.N. arms inspector Scott Ritter, an ex-Marine who quit his post, charging that the U.S. has backed away from arms inspections in Iraq.

Hours after Albright’s address, the 15-member U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution co-sponsored by the United States that simultaneously punishes Iraq for halting most cooperation with U.N. weapons inspectors and holds out an incentive for Hussein’s government to reverse that decision.

The measure, also sponsored by Britain and Costa Rica, passed despite hints from the Iraqis that they would take further steps to harass inspectors if the resolution was approved.

On Aug. 5, the Iraqi government said it would halt cooperation with most inspections until the council eliminates economic sanctions imposed on Iraq after Baghdad invaded Kuwait in 1990. Wednesday’s resolution, however, said that the council would not consider lifting sanctions until the Iraqis retreat from that position.

That was the punishment clause in the resolution. The incentive was a promise to conduct a “comprehensive review” of Iraq’s efforts to conform to U.N. demands that it rid itself of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. There was no explanation of what such a review would entail. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who first floated the idea, was invited to help define it.

Nizar Hamdoun, Iraq’s ambassador to the U.N., termed the resolution “unfair” and added, “Up to now, I don’t see a reason for Iraq to rescind its decision.”

In addition, Iraq could halt the limited cooperation it now extends the inspectors and eject the 100 employees of the inspection team who live and work in Baghdad.

“Baghdad will be studying all options,” Hamdoun said.

In her Louisiana speech, the text of which was released in Washington, Albright did not cite Ritter by name. But the address was crafted as a rebuttal to Ritter, an American who resigned from his U.N. post last month. Ritter complained loudly that administration officials persuaded the U.N. to call off an August inspection that he maintains would have uncovered concealed missile parts and documents showing how Iraq hides other contraband.

Ritter said the administration made it clear it would not risk military action if Iraq blocked the U.N. inspection. The U.N. commission has been left moribund, he maintained, clearing the way for Iraq to rebuild its weapons programs within six months.

Although Albright did not deny that Washington advised against the planned Aug. 8 inspection, she said the administration’s critics are “sincerely wrong” in their assessment that the action let Hussein off the hook. A confrontation last month, she said, would have played into the hands of the Iraqi leader, who hoped to provoke a crisis to “divide the Security Council, isolate the United States and diminish support for sanctions.”

“I don’t have to tell this audience the value in any confrontation of being able to choose your own timing and terrain,” Albright told the former military personnel.

“We have not taken any option off the table, including military force . . . but our strategy is to keep the world’s spotlight not on us, but on Saddam’s ongoing failure to meet his obligations.”

Kempster reported from Washington, Turner from the United Nations.