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Iraąi PrcaldMt Saddam HutMln ipeaka to senior nllttaiy offleors In this Iraąi News Agency pheto madę avallable Monday.

Saddam ratchets up teIevision appearances

Blair pushes France to back war

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP> - Iraq look the unusual step of issuing an cxpIanarion for a missile warhead 'dlscovered "Mond ay by U-Nranm" inspectors - before thc monltors themsches madę thc news public.

The inspectors found the aban-doncd casc of a smali rocket and a •‘modified. domaged and aban-doncd warhead” at a missile parts foctory South of Baghdad, the Iraqi News Agency said, dcscribing it as a Rustian-madc Luna - a short-range rocket per-mitted under U.N. resolutions.

lraq, however, rarely reports on what thc inspectors find. The report appeared timed to give Iraq^łs version of events before thc discovcry was publicized by thc United Nations.

The discovcry last month of 12 empty Chemical warheads -which the lraqis considcrcd an ovcrsight on their part - was cited by thc United States as an cxample of Baghdad failing to comply with terms of U.N. Resolution 1441.

Iraq is cspccially scnsitive to such allegations ahead of Secrciary of State-Colin PowelTs appcarance before the Security Council on Wednesday. Powell plans to present cvidcnce thot Iraąi Prcsident Saddam Husscin has retained his arsenał of wcapons of mass destmetion.

Photographs of mobile biologi-cal wcapons installations and transcripts of overheard conver-sations among Iraąi officials are part of the evidence Powell will present to the council Wednesday. a Bush administra-tion official said.

Iraq denies holding any banned biological, Chemical or nuclear wcapons but is under pressure to improve coopcration with U.N. inspectors.

The United States and Brltain insist Saddam still is hiding banned wcaponry and say they will disamt Iraq by lorce if ncccs-Sary. The United States has deployed almost 90.000 troops in the Gulf region, a number that may double soon.

BAGHDAD. Iraq (AP) - lt‘s 9 p.m. in Baghdad, time for thc moin TV news and a solid hour or morę of Saddam Husscin, giv* ing pep talks to his gencralś, ordering coffee, sending regards to faraway tribal chieftains and 'denouncing' American “wicked-ness.”

Although his portraits and statues are everywhcre, thc Iraqi leader hardly cver appears in public, and until thc past month he hadn’t bccn scen much on rightly controlled State tclevision. But lately thc person-ality cult has been dominating the air waves, usually in excerpts of meeiings with offi-cers and oides.

Ficld-Marshal Saddam Husscin,-The Leader Prcsident,. The Victorious, May God Protect Him” in thc official media’s words, is usually scen in a three-piece suit at thc head of a long table, a smali leather bag of his bclovcd Cuban cigars at hand.

The officcrs, ranging in ronk from coloncl to generał, stand 5ti/f]y at attention and salute as Saddam walks in. His son Qusay, -a civilian who hcads thc elilc Rcpublican Guard Corps, is ofton present and also ot attention.

”It is sweet to sit and talk to you," Saddam tells a group of army officcrs in footage from Jon 27.

The officers, mostly in olive-green army fatigues, tell Saddam how privi!eged they are to mcet him. One officcr tells of being nagged by his children who have scen other officcrs with Saddam on TV and want to know when it*H be dad*s tum. Officcrs sometimes break into songs of praisc of Saddam.

—Tho reasons for oll this sudden -cxposure are many; a way of rai-lying thc estimated 22 million Iraqis for a possible American attack, a show of control and busincss-as-usual, a display of battlc rcadlness and a demon-stration of loyal camaraderic at a time when Saddam's cncmics are reported to be working on the generals to overthrow him.

Those in search of other farę can flip to Al-Shabab, a channcl set up in 1994 by Saddśm’s other son, Odai. Lately it offeTs the American serics ”VIP,". starring Pamela (“Baywotch") Anderson, and an Egyptian soap opera about a greedy man who marrics women for their money, only to lośc it all on thc stock market.

But many Iraqis are tuning in to the Saddam footage, if only for the novelty of seeing him relaxing, talking and joking.

Here*s the leader meeting with army commanders; As cach officer identifics himsclf, Saddam names his tribe or elan and sends regards to its chief. Battlc tactics come up and hc is instantly the supremę comman-der. stressing, for example, that war gatnes should usc livc ammunition.

WASHINGTON (AP) -Secretary of State Colin Powell will present photographs of mobile biological wcapons Installations and transcripts of over* hcard Iraql conversations to eon-vince.allies.that Saddam Husscin. has potent arsenals in defiance of U.N. disarmament demands, an administratlon official said Monday.

Powell sifted through classi-fied U-S. inteUigcnce on Monday to choose what he will make public on Wednesday to the U.N. Security Council. Ho is expected to display the photographs and refer to transcripts. an official told The Associated Press.

The chairman of the Housc Armed Serrices Committcc, Rep.' Duncan Hunter. R-Calif., said he cxpected the evidence to show dctails of a transfer of tcchnolo-gy from other countries and the relocation of weapons systems within Iraq.

”{Ie can go into a levcl of detail with rcspcct to thc present maintcnancc of the stock that he hasn't gone into before," Hunter said in an intcrview.

As the administration sought to expand its nctwork of poten-tial coalition partners, Powell met with the king of Bahratn,

PARJS (AP) - A Frcnch-British summit opens today willi a focus on Iraq: During talks at a north-cm scaside resort, British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expcctcd to try to persuade Prcsident Jacąues Chirac to ease his anti-war stance.

At issuc is a possible sccond U.N. Security¹ Council resolution on Iraq that would justify military action against Saddam Hussein ovcr his olleged weapons of mass destruedon.

France has hinted it might usc its veto power as one of five per-manent members of the Security Council to.błock a resolution cali-ing for an attack on Iraq.

Blair has long supported Prcsident Bush’s stance that U.N. backing might not bc neccssary, and Britain is Washington's cios-est ally on lraq - sending 3S.000

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Presid Bush at WhlteHoi Bohrathj which p*ó*’ vidcs a basc fer the U.S. Naiyi Fifth Fleet, was the targctjbff long-rangc Scud missiles fi Iraq in thc 1991 Gulf War reversed Iraq's onncxation Kuwait. Pro-govemment r.cWtyi pers reported Sunday t!nu .the Arab nation was dcplojhti Patriot missile batteries ii counter any possible long-ran&C missile threats.

Russian President Vlndinjir Putin said in Moscow thero wai no nced for another SecilżliJ Council resolution on Iraq but he would not nile one out - as B„qsl) said hc was not doing.either.-* • “The inspectors nced to tclTuł what morę they need frtfm ttjtj what clse can be demandettof lraq so their works coulcHie morę effcctive," Putin said. ~ •

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In Le Touąuet, a resort of grassy bcachcs and pine forests, Blair.is expecicd to repeat.un argument he advanccd Monday in the Housc of Commons - that the United Naticns could bc dis-credited if it fails to follow through on demands that Saddam disami.

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