U.S. to Seek U.N. Permission to Use Force in Iraq : Persian Gulf: But Security Council support is iffy. Few nations seem ready to back renewed military action.

The Bush Administration said Wednesday that it will ask the U.N. Security Council to pass a new resolution that would permit military action against Iraq, if necessary, to stop Saddam Hussein’s air attacks against Shiite Muslim villages in the south.

Edward Perkins, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told Congress that such a measure is needed because a previous U.N. resolution demanding that Baghdad halt its repression of Iraqi civilians does not include any authority to enforce the prohibition.

Perkins said the Security Council is likely to consider the U.S. proposal “within the next week.”

It was not immediately clear how successful Washington would be in gaining the council’s support for the move. Although most members want to see all the U.N. resolutions enforced, few seem ready to back renewed military intervention.

Preliminary soundings taken by the United States earlier this month suggested that only Britain and France were likely to approve the effort.

In another move Wednesday designed to put further pressure on the Iraqi president, Secretary of State James A. Baker III met for the first time with Iraqi opposition leaders.

There was no indication, however, that the United States pledged arms, money or other concrete support to the delegates, who included Kurdish guerrilla leaders, a Shiite cleric and a former Iraqi prime minister who broke with Hussein several years ago.

President Bush, while declining to see the delegation personally, signaled his support in a letter to Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) in which he warned that it was “essential to stand firmly in support of those brave Iraqis who oppose Saddam’s tyranny.”

The Iraqi dissidents made their pitch to Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress as well, calling for the United States and its allies to stop Hussein from using warplanes against Iraqi civilians. They also urged Washington to use Iraqi financial assets frozen in the United States to pay Iraqi soldiers to defect.

U.S. officials said the Administration has decided to support the groups because they appear to be well organized and to speak with a common voice. There are rival Iraqi opposition groups backed by Syria and Saudi Arabia.

The push for a new U.N. resolution marked a turnaround for the Administration. Senior U.S. officials had been insisting until now that the allies already have all the authority they need to intervene militarily to protect the Shiites.

But officials conceded Wednesday that some clarification--most likely in the form of a new resolution--might be required.

The problem, from the U.S. point of view, lies in the authority under which an earlier resolution--one that, according to the Bush Administration, prohibits Iraqi air attacks against the Shiites--was issued.

Known as Resolution 688, it demands that Iraq end “repression” against its own civilians.

But unlike other resolutions, which were passed under a provision of the U.N. Charter providing for automatic enforcement, Resolution 688 carries with it no such enforcement provision. And U.S. officials concede privately they can cite only three instances of bombing of Shiite targets by the Iraqi air force.

The Administration’s repeated mention of Iraq’s air attacks on the Shiites has been partly a public-relations ploy, designed to marshal international support in case the United States decides to proceed with military intervention.

Senior officials said their continued reference to bombardment by “fixed-wing aircraft” was designed to evoke memories of the strictures imposed on Baghdad as part of the cease-fire agreement between Iraq and the victorious allies.

In fact, the officials acknowledge, the picture is now less clear.

“What they’re doing is bad, but it may not be as bad as some people are trying to make out,” one official said of the Iraqi attacks.

Perkins’ disclosure of the proposal for a new resolution came as the Administration continued to seek new ways to pressure Iraq into complying with about 25 U.N. resolutions passed since the Persian Gulf War cease-fire early last year. At the same time, the Administration is clearly interested in laying the groundwork for possible future military action.

The Administration also is considering a plan to seek U.N. approval for the creation of a new protective zone in southern Iraq to help shield the Shiites, who have been subjected to increasing Iraqi harassment in recent weeks.

Times staff writer Douglas Jehl contributed to this article.