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A16 The World The Boston Globe FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2002 DEBATE OVER IRAQ POLICY NORTHERN IRAQ. 'It was interesting and troubling information. It's going to give us something more to think 5. Senator Trent Lott, minority leader Briefings seek support on Hill Islamic militants reported to be harassing Kurds! WifSi t- war MRS j- 5)'- bling to make up for past sins on both Capitol Hill and at the United Nations. "The Bush administration has not handled this well," Lieberman said, adding that over the summer "they rattled the sabers with-s out explaining why." Other lawmakers in both parties said they were still a long way from casting a vote authorizing a possible attack.

"I'm more concerned about getting this done right than getting it done quickly," Daschle said. "And getting it done right means that we have to ensure that we have the answers to questions that you've heard many of us ask now for the last several days." Many lawmakers say they want to see evidence of an imminent threat from Iraq and to know what a post-war Iraq would look like and who would pay for its upkeep. They also want international support for Bush's plan, which he has not disclosed. But Daschle and other members of Congress said that a UN Security Council resolution backing US force in Iraq was not a prerequisite for congressional approval. As part of its public relations blitz to persuade the world that Iraq is a threat, Bush is dispatching three top officials Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Secretary of State Colin L.

Powell to appear on television talk shows Sunday morning. He is placing calls today to leaders of the other four nations that are permanent members of the UN Security Council, before hosting Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain at Camp David this weekend for further discussions about a possible war. Officials said that Bush is more willing than he has been to conduct a public debate about Iraq. The president recognizes this is a vital matter for a democracy to be open, to be forthcoming, to have administration witnesses testify on the Hill," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said. "And the president will continue to speak out, because he has a case to make.

He will continue to make it, and the American people deserve to hear it; they deserve to hear all sides of it "They deserve to hear from those people who would oppose the president. And that's exactly how our democracy works, and that is what I expect will take place." The timing of the vote is very much in question, and many lawmakers describe themselves as un- As President Bush told GOP supporters in Louisville, that he will seek to persuade allied leaders of the need for military action against Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, protesters marched in the city's downtown to oppose such a war. against Iraq may be months away; The Kurds dont appear ready for a major offensive. "Ansar is a bother," said a Kurdish official, "But not one yet that requires a major response." Iraq's neighbors have worked with ethnic groups inside Iraq to destabilize the country. The Kurds have been a prime pawn in these games.

Shiite Muslims, making up about 70 percent of Iraq's population, are also seen as a possible fifth column for influence by Iran, which is ruled by a Shiite fundamentalist government. The consensus is that Iran provides logistical support and a safe area beyond the Northern Iraq border. Hussein's security agents had contact with Ansar, bui Iraq isnt the main sponsor, exile and Kurdish officials said. Weapons may come from several sources, including Iraq, a Kurdish official said. "It's not hard to buy weapons in our area," he said.

Iran and Iraq have denied fostering Ansar. Iranian officials have called the group a threat to their country's security. "We find this group suspect and its activities fin-acceptable," a spokesman foj Iran's Foreign Ministry said last month. Baghdad, meanwhile, has pointed the finger at Tehran. In a radio broadcast, Uday Saddam Hussein, the president's eldest son, accused Iran of establishing an "extremist" group inside Iraq.

The possible motives of Irari, whose reported support includes housing for families of the fugitiyte fighters from Afghanistan, are hazy. For the moment, the United States and Iran are strange bedfellows in the buildup to a possible attack on Iraq. Labeled by President Bush part of an "axis of evil," Iraa js headquarters of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, an organization representing Iraqi Shiites. The group was one of six organizations invited ly the Bush administration last month to Washington to discuss plans to topple Hussein. Shiite Iran and Ansar, whose members follow the Sunni form of Islam, form an odd couple: Each considers the other heretics.

Kurdish officials and observers believe that hard-line members Iran's intelligence services are using Ansar as a reminder to Kurds that Iran can create mischief in Northern Iraq. "It's a way of saving dont forget us, in case the Kurds get too cozy with the Americans one Kurdish exile official said. IRAQ Continued from Page Al Yesterday, Senate minority leader Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi, emerged from the briefing in the Capitol by Cheney and Tenet to say that he had learned facts that members of Congress need to consider, though he would not be more specific "It was interesting and troubling Lott said. "If going to give us something more to think about" Also attending that briefing were Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle, Democrat of South Dakota; House Speaker J.

Dennis Hastert, Republican of Illinois; and House minority leader Richard A. Gephardt, Democrat of Missouri. After the meeting, Daschle told reporters the session was "helpful" and gave the leaders a chance to ask many of the questions that have been bothering them. Bush, meanwhile, repeated his intention to call foreign leaders to argue for action in Iraq and "remind them that history has called us into action." "I look forward to a dialogue," he said in Louisville, where he was raising campaign funds for a Republican congressional candidate. "I'm a patient man.

IVe got tools. We've got tools at our disposal." The president is preparing to make his case for action against Iraq next week, when he speaks to the United Nations. Senior administration officials said Bush is willing to discuss having another round of United Nations-sponsored weapons inspections before taking military action, the Chicago Tribune reported yesterday. While senators said they had received new information, the mood on Capitol Hill remained largely skeptical. Lawmakers maintained that they need more information before throwing their support behind what several said would be an unprecedented preemptive attack on a sovereign nation.

Officials provided "bits and pieces" of new information, said Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts and one of the lawmakers briefed at the Pentagon. But "we're not getting enough to make an informed decision," Kerry said. Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut and a strong supporter of military action against Iraq, said the Bush administration had botched the issue over the summer and was scram 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I I I i I 1 1 1 1 1 CAIRO A preelection vote would almost certainly be overwhelmingly supportive of the popular president, said David Carney, a New Hampshire political consultant who worked in the White House during the 1991 Gulf War.

"A lot of congressional candidates were really out there" during the summer, questioning the Bush administration's Iraq strategy, Carney said. "I think a lot of them will come to regret this." But Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington and chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said the floundering economy, not a looming threat of war, is driving voter opinion. "I don't think changing the subject is going to work," she said. On the House side, a senior aide to Gephardt, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that members are likely to vote in accord with public sentiment in their districts. Anne E.

Kornblut and John Aloysius Farrell of the Globe's Washington bureau contributed to thisreport 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 1 By Daniel Williams WASHINGTON POST LONDON An Islamic militant group reinforced with refugee followers of Osama bin Laden has been harassing Kurdish allies of the United States in Northern Iraq with support from Iran, according to Iraqi exiles and Kurdish leaders. Over the past several months, the small guerrilla force known as Ansar al-Islam has carried out assassinations and assaulted villages it deems insufficiently pious. In July, Ansar militants killed nine fighters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of two Kurdish parties that administer Northern Iraq under a protective umbrella of US and British war-planes. Union party officials say Ansar assassins tried to kill Bar-ham Salih, a top party official, in April. The group's presence and Iran's support underline the complications facing the United States in its plans to overthrow President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.

Northern Iraq is a possible invasion route. Ansar numbers only about 500 fighters and holds a handful of villages in eastern Iraq near the town of Biyara, in an area adjacent to territory administered by Kurdish authorities. A few dozen guerrillas from Afghanistan joined after the US bombing of that country, officials here said. Some fighters are Afghans loyal to the deposed Taliban govern- ment, while others are Arabs from such countries as Saudi Arabia and Jordan. After fleeing Afghanistan, they're said to have traveled through Iran into Iraq.

The Al Qaeda members have settled in a cave complex in high mountains along the Iranian border, reports from northern Iraq indicate. Last month, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told reporters that members of bin Laden's Qaeda network have "landed in a variety of countries, one of which is Iraq." He placed indirect responsibility on Hussein, saying, "It's hard to imagine that the government is not aware of what's taking place in the country." The presence of Al Qaeda fighters creates a peculiar dilemma for the Bush administration. Washington has pledged to pursue Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorist suspects wherever they hide, and to punish countries that shelter them. Yet disputing the issue with Iran would require a strong commitment, and a military move 1 11 1 1 1 1 It I 1 1 1 1 1 11 ri 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 at Israel in an effort to wider conflict in the region.

The Iraqi newspaper Babel, which is owned by Hussein's son Uday, urged the Arab League to support Iraq, insisting the United States was "attempting to target Iraq as a first step toward controlling the whole Middle East decided on a military attack. After a meeting with Bush Wednesday morning, Lott said a vote could come by early October, but yesterday he said a vote on a resolution backing the use of force might not happen until next year, after a new Congress is seated. Some members of Congress are eager to give the president the authority he wants as soon as possible, so that Bush is not hamstrung in his fight against Hussein. Many others said the president would have a greater chance of success if he first spent more time educating Congress and the American public, as well as lining up support from the international community. "We havent even begun the debate," said Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas, said, This is the beginning of the process, certainly not the end." A delay would free lawmakers from having to take tough votes right before an Election Day that could change the party in control of either or both houses of Congress.

I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 been destroyed, has flip-flopped on whether it will allow weapons inspectors back into the country. After dismissing the idea, senior Iraqi officials said earlier this week that they would be willing to consider the return of inspectors if sanctions are lifted at the same time. The UN Security Council, which imposed the sanctions after the Persian Gulf War, has insisted its inspectors verify that Iraq has stopped building weapons of mass destruction and has destroyed its stockpiles before the sanctions can be lifted. Iraq contends that it has ceased its biological and chemical weapons programs, but it has nonetheless forbidden UN inspectors from entering the country since 1998. US officials have said they believe Hussein may still possess biological and chemical weapons.

President Bush has said he supports the ouster of Hussein Arab states support Iraq, warn US against attack 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 resolution as he exited the closed-door meeting. Arab nations, he said, voiced a "total rejection of the aggressive intentions of the United States." Although some Arab governments have urged Baghdad to WVi hi Ui 1- permit UN weapons inspectors to return in an effort Arab ministers 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 14 I Despite their pledge of sup-0 port for Iraq's diplomatic stance, the foreign minister did not div cuss whether they would lend military assistance fi Iraq if it were attacked. The ministers "considered this issue too hypothetical, someth'ng they' shouldn't go into," said Hisham Youssef, the league's spokesman. to defuse the crisis, the ministers' statement yesterday did not specifically mention the inspectors. Taking a more deferential declared their 'total rejection of the threat of aggression on By Rajiv Chandrasekaran WASHINGTON POST CAIRO The foreign ministers of 20 Arab nations jointly pledged yesterday to support Iraq in its showdown with the United States, warning that American threats against Saddam Hussein's regime were threats to the entire Arab world.

Handing a diplomatic triumph to Baghdad at the conclusion of a two-day Arab League meeting here, the ministers issued a resolution declaring their "total rejection of the threat of aggression on Arab nations, in particular Iraq, reaffirming that these threats to the security and safety of any Arab country are considered a threat to Arab national security." The ministers' stance is the latest and strongest sign of opposition among Arab nations to any US military action aimed at toppling Hussein. The support of at least some Arab countries, particularly those that share land borders with Iraq, is regarded by many military analysts as crucial to a US ground invasion. Foreign Minister Naji Sabri of Iraq lauded the Arab ministers' tone, the council of Arabnations, ministers instead said it "welcomes HI particular the initiatives by jn Iraq to forge a dia- AraH logue with the United Nations." The ministers REUTERS PHOTO Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud el-Faisal (left) and his Sudanese counterpart Mustafa Osman Ismail yesterday in Cairo during the Arab League meeting. 1 but has not decided whether to authorize a military invasion. The Arab League's secretary general, Amr Moussa, said a military strike against Iraq would "open the gates of hell" in the Middle East.

Western and Arab military analysts predict that Iraq may seek to respond to any US attack by launching missiles also echoed Baghdad's recent call for a "comprehensive settlement" of all its disputes with the United Nations, calling for an end to UN trade sanctions imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait Iraq, which insists that its stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons have already IMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlnillllllllllllllllllll Ill IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIII uiiiiiiiiiiiii milium 11 1 iiiiirjiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiliii 1 if nun iiimiiiVt'j,.