U.S. Steps Up Pressure; 2nd Carrier Sent to Gulf

WASHINGTON —  President Clinton opened the way Friday for possible military action against Iraq, making plans to confer with key allies and ordering more U.S. forces to the area in case Baghdad does not back down in a confrontation over weapons inspectors.

The president ordered a second U.S. aircraft carrier, the George Washington, to the Persian Gulf region to join the Nimitz, which is already in the area. Defense officials said the George Washington and its accompanying vessels are expected to arrive in the area in about a week.

Clinton also launched a full-scale diplomatic effort with crucial U.S. allies, which included plans to telephone the leaders of Britain, France and Russia and regional powers such as Saudi Arabia to discuss options.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein brought new heat to the dispute Thursday by expelling six American weapons inspectors, prompting the departure of the rest of the U.N. inspection team, which left only a skeleton crew in Baghdad.

The resulting standoff--one of the most difficult diplomatic challenges of Clinton’s presidency--has left the administration with few palatable choices.

France and Russia have stated their opposition to the use of force at this point, and Washington has had difficulty in general persuading the U.N. Security Council to tighten sanctions further or to support military action.

At the same time, the multinational coalition that the United States put together during the 1991 Persian Gulf War has frayed visibly, making it difficult for Clinton to win support--or bases--for any military offensive. Almost all Arab countries have been insisting on a diplomatic solution and are strongly opposed to any military action by the United States.

Nevertheless, the president remained firm Friday in refusing to give ground.

“This is a crisis of Saddam’s own making,” Clinton told a news conference at the White House. “It can be unmade only when he can no longer threaten the international community with weapons of mass destruction.”

Deploying the second aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf area was not the only signal Clinton sent that the United States was preparing for possible military strikes.

The administration also reiterated that it is stepping up U-2 surveillance flights over Iraq. And Clinton pointedly praised the United Nations for pulling out the weapons inspectors from Iraq. The inspectors are overseeing the dismantling of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.

Just the same, from Clinton on down, administration officials repeatedly stressed that Washington would much prefer to win a diplomatic solution without having to fire a shot.

“We’re not looking to bomb anyone back into . . . submission,” Defense Secretary William S. Cohen said at a news conference. “But . . . we expect compliance” with the U.N. resolutions requiring Baghdad to accept the weapons inspections.

The diplomatic effort in Washington and New York was complemented by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who made an unscheduled stop in Edinburgh, Scotland, to confer with British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook.

Britain has already said it will join any U.S.-led effort to launch military strikes against Iraq if Hussein fails to comply. A British aircraft carrier is heading toward the Persian Gulf area.

Clinton also sounded out Jordan’s King Hussein, who was in Washington on Friday, about possible steps to persuade Iraq to allow the U.N. inspections to continue. There was no word on what, if anything, they agreed upon.

Officials said Clinton will try to speak by telephone this weekend with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac and Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin.

In Jerusalem on Friday, Israel warned that it will retaliate if Iraq fires any missiles at the country. “Israel can’t just sit back and do nothing if attacked,” Silvan Shalom, deputy defense minister, told Israel’s Army Radio.

In Baghdad, the regime refused allied demands to readmit the U.N. inspectors, with news reports saying the government has moved civilians to serve as “human shields” around Hussein’s palaces.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Said Sahaf also called on Security Council members to stop “reiterating U.S. rhetoric” and accede to Iraq’s demands for a “serious dialogue” about the situation.

The flurry of military activity Friday appeared to heighten alarm in the Mideast that the United States might be prepared to take military action. Sahaf played on such fears Friday, saying at a news conference in Baghdad that Iraq believes that a U.S. attack is imminent.

“How near [are] the Americans and their stooges, the British, from launching an aggression against Iraq?” he asked. “Well, any moment. This would not surprise us at all.”

U.S. officials believe that Iraq decided to expel the U.S. weapons experts because U.N. inspectors were getting close to uncovering a biological weapons production facility.

Iraq has been subject to U.N. inspections since its defeat in the Gulf War, but inspectors repeatedly have complained that the Iraqis were not cooperating and were hiding their weapons plants.

Clinton said Friday that Washington was not only worried that Hussein might use the weapons but that Iraq might sell chemical and biological weapons to terrorist groups for use in the West.

“This is not just a replay of the Gulf War,” he said. “This is about the security of the 21st century and the problems everyone is going to face.”

The developments came as Richard Butler, head of the U.N. inspection team, denied that some members of the Security Council had criticized his decision to withdraw the inspectors after the Americans had been expelled.

Butler said in a news conference that he had no choice but to recall the entire team or he would have played into Saddam Hussein’s hands.

Butler made his remarks after hearing reports that Russia had complained about the U.N. team’s decision. Russian U.N. Ambassador Sergei V. Lavrov formally requested a briefing by the panel, but no date was set.

The U.N. inspectors who left Iraq by car--six Americans, one Australian and a Briton--were in Bahrain on Friday evening after traveling to Amman, Jordan, where they boarded a transport plane.

Sixty-eight other members of the U.N. team arrived earlier by plane from Baghdad.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed hope Friday that Iraq might still reverse its actions, although he conceded that he had no indications that any such action would take place.

Wright reported from Edinburgh, Scotland, Turner from the United Nations and Pine from Washington. Times staff writers John Daniszewski in Amman, Jordan, and Sam Fulwood III and Paul Richter in Washington contributed to this report.