WASHINGTON, February 5: American lawmakers on Wednesday amplified the ``Let's-Beat Up-Saddam'' rhetoric as they pressed the Clinton administration to topple the Iraqi President despite a limited Baghdad offer to allow inspection of some of President Saddam Hussein's palaces for suspected chemical and biological weapons.In a new twist to the ongoing confrontation, Iraq has reportedly offered to open eight of President Saddam's palaces for inspection by a newly constituted team drawn from the 15 Security Council members and 21 UNSCOM countries - a larger and more representative team than the present US-dominated one.But the White House rejected the offer as too limited spokesman Michael McCurry said the offer ``falls short'' of the US demand for ``unfettered access'' but added it may indicate a softening on the part of Baghdad.Increasingly belligerent lawmakers and foreign policy hawks said the United States should go beyond its current stated objective of flushing out suspected chemical andbiological weapons and actually take out the ruling Iraqi regime itself. This would necessarily involve the use of US ground forces, a much greater commitment than the air strikes now under consideration.``We should do everything we can to get this resolved and find a way to have him removed from office, one way or the other,'' said Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. House Speaker Newt Gingrich went further, saying the world's leaders must avoid ``incremental timidity'' that will only leave Hussein in place and stronger.``This is a real problem which requires a real solution. My hope is that military planning will be designed to coerce him or replace him and will not simply punish him and leave him in charge of building the weapons. That's not a victory. That's a defeat.'' Gingrich said.President Clinton sounded more restrained in contrast, suggesting that the US still prefers a diplomatic solution to the current standoff with Iraq, but ``one way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq thecapacity to develop weapons of mass destruction.'' The best way to stop Saddam from building nuclear, biological or chemical weapons is simply to get the international inspectors back to work with no restraints,'' he said.Defence Secretary William Cohen was also tempered in his remarks, saying the US only wanted to ``degrade'' Iraq's capability of producing weapons of mass destruction and did not aim to remove Saddam Hussein. He also said any military action would involve air strikes and that the United States has no plans to introduce ground troops into Iraq.The feeling in Washington is that Baghdad's latest proposal is aimed at trying to score propaganda points and gain time while undermining UNSCOM and creating further rifts among US allies.As it is, Washington has had no support from any quarter in the world save from the British. In fact, Clinton was fortified today with the arrival of his staunch ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The two are to meet tomorrow in what should be a virtuallove-fest since they disagree on nothing.A clear divide still persisted among Arab nations over the issue of use of force against Iraq with Egypt joining Saudi Arabia in saying no to a US military strike against Baghdad.But Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz said today his government would ask parliament to approve any US request to use airbases in the country for strikes against Iraq. This is an apparent shift from Turkey's earlier stand on not allowing its bases for such action. Turkish newspapers quoted Yilmaz as adding that unless Iraq allowed UN arms inspectors to resume work, he expected American attacks to begin within two weeks.Washington added to its firepower in the Gulf arrayed against Iraq with the arrival of a third aircraft carrier. The Independence, with 75 aircraft abroad and a battle group that includes a cruiser, a destroyer and a submarine, joined the larger, nuclear-fuelled carrier Nimitz and the George Washington.Meanwhile, a typically Yeltsinian remark that any US aggressioncould lead to a Third World War in some ways bridled American enthusiasm to start a shooting war. Although a Russian spokesman gave a toned-down spin to the Russian President's remark suggesting that Yeltsin was talking about terrorists retaliating with nuclear weapons it drove home the fact that Washington still does not have a free run of the world.In fact, the State Department, through its Moscow embassy, issued a statement disavowing any plans to use nuclear weapons in Iraq. ``The press reports that the United States is planning to use nuclear weapons to destroy chemical or biological weapons storage facilities in Iraq have no basis in fact. The US has no plans or intentions of using nuclear weapons against Iraq. We are well aware of the enormous implications of using nuclear weapons,'' the statement said.
