Armed troops should back inspectors

The weapons inspector who oversaw the destruction of much of President Saddam Hussein's arsenal of chemical and biological weapons called yesterday for an armed force of 50,000 men to back up the United Nations experts.

Rolf Ekeus, chief UN inspector from 1991 to 1997, said "coercive inspections" could offer President Saddam a credible alternative to being overthrown by a US military intervention. "Iraq may well accept, if this is an alternative to an invasion," said Mr Ekeus, who now chairs the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. "The prospect of a military invasion may concentrate Saddam's mind."

The proposals are part of a report to be released today by an influential US think-tank, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mr Ekeus said he was initially sceptical but is now one of the report's authors. His doubts evaporated after "hard-nosed feasibility discussions" with the retired air force general Charles Boyd, a former deputy commander of US forces in Europe, he said.

The UN arms experts were systematically stymied by Iraq during years of monitoring weapons of mass destruction in the 1990s. But the threat of military strikes alone was able to persuade the Iraqis to end some tense stand-offs. The inspectors have been barred from Iraq since they pulled out in December 1998, hours before the US and Britain launched Operation Desert Fox.

The new plan calls for the UN Security Council to set up a "powerful, multinational military force" to back the inspections. The force would be composed of air cavalry with at least four brigade-sized units stationed in Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

"This is a simple and viable idea," Mr Ekeus said. "Saddam with his weapons, if he has them, is a serious international problem. Saddam without the weapons is an unpleasant local thug who is a problem for the Iraqi people. The key is if we can get rid of his weapons, we don't need to have bloodshed.

"The problem is to convince the international community and the American administration that the inspectors really can clean up the country. I believe in that." Bush administration hawks argue instead for pre-emptive action to overthrow President Saddam.