The United States, Britain and France are discussing sending military teams into Iraq to escort the United Nations inspectors looking for President Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction if Baghdad's authorities continue trying to obstruct the search, diplomats here said today. But the troops may not be needed because Iraq appeared tonight to be backing down in its quarrel with the Security Council, after its United Nations representative, Abdul Amir al-Anbari, said he hoped that a complete agreement could be reached soon.
Anbari added that he believed the Security Council was acting "in an open-minded way and so are we," insisting that his Government was flexible and wanted a settlement. He spoke after the representative of France, this month's Security Council President, rejected Iraq's latest attempt to limit the use of helicopters inside its territory by the United Nations inspectors. Diplomats said the French delegate, Jean-Bernard Merimee, told the Iraqi diplomat that the Security Council would not agree to a requirement that the inspectors refrain from taking aerial photographs, restrict their flights to western Iraq and limit searches to a maximum of two weeks, as Baghdad officials had demanded.
Iraqi Observers Permitted. Earlier, the Iraqis had threatened to ban the inspectors from using any aircraft of their own inside the country. But on Monday, they softened their position and tried to place conditions on the helicopters' use instead. Merimee said the Council was ready to discuss the inspectors' plans for flights, and he indicated that Iraq could send officials in the United Nations helicopters to serve as guides and liaison officers.
He also asked Iraq for a prompt written assurance that the copters, which Germany is lending to the inspectors, would be permitted to fly freely inside Iraq. The Council demanded this in Resolution , which says that they have the right to use their own aircraft for making searches.
Western diplomats also said they believed that Mr. Hussein's officials were backing away from a head-on confrontation with the Security Council over compliance with its terms on Iraqi conduct in the aftermath of the gulf war. These include the destruction of all Iraqi nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, as well as ballistic missiles, by the United Nations inspectors. The inspectors are to be given complete freedom to perform this task. But the three Western permanent members of the Security Council have discussed possible plans for providing air force escorts for these teams and their helicopters if Iraq refused to let them operate freely.
