WASHINGTON, February 27: Pentagon is considering commando raids to destroy facilities and physical seizure of chemical and biological war experts to ``neutralise'' Iraq even as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan assured the United States that his weapons inspectors will remain in charge of the search for arms in Saddam Hussein's country.``Parts of the US military are already working to bolster containment. They are coming up with a more imaginative set of options than simply threatening to bomb Iraq in way that might not do much good. These tend to focus on using army special forces or other irregular troops to conduct hit-and-run raids deep inside Iraqi territory to destroy chemical and biological weapons and humiliate Saddam Hussein,'' the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.``Also, there has been quiet talk about apprehending Iraqi biological and chemical experts. It is in those people's heads, warns one defence department official involved in recent targeting discussions, where the real threatresides, not in Iraqi kitchens and hospitals where anthrax (a deadly poison) can be cultivated and stored,'' it said.US officials, meanwhile, said Annan assured the Clinton administration yesterday that UN inspectors would be in charge of the search for Iraqi weapons.The US has faith in the inspectors because of its close relations with them, but it has little trust in the UN and the diplomats who will accompany the inspectors on inspections of palace sites, they, however, added.In another development, in direct contrast to the desire of Annan, Russia, France, China and several third world countries to lift the sanctions against Iraq to ease the sufferings of people there, state department spokesman James Rubin said yesterday it ``is a long way off''.Not mollified by reports that the CIA has been drafting plans for ``a major programme of sabotage and subversion against President Saddam Hussein'', Congressmen who want Saddam removed have also unleashed a severe attack on President Bill Clinton foraccepting the peace that Annan brought. Among those attacking the UN-brokered deal, senate majority leader Republican Senator Trent Lott said, ``It is not too late to reject it.''In a slashing attack on Annan, he said, ``I cannot understand why the Clinton administration would place trust in someone devoted to building a `human relationship' with a mass murderer. After years of denying that Saddam Hussein had any right to determine the scope of inspections or the make up of inspection teams, this agreement codifies his ability to do both.''The Washington Post described as ``disturbing'' the agreement Annan has signed with Iraq.``The US threatened force but seemed not to want to use it. It likened Saddam Hussein to Hitler but was not prepared to deal with him as Hitler must be dealt with. The US said it would not negotiate but it sent Annan to negotiate, and that is exactly what he did,'' it complained.However, Rubin claimed, ``there are no concessions'' to Saddam Hussein.
