Powell Will Present ‘Strong Case’ Against Iraq

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell will share intercepted conversations among Iraqi officials about their weapons programs, along with photographs of suspected mobile biological weapons labs, when he takes the U.S. intelligence dossier on Iraq to the United Nations this week, U.S. officials said Monday.

“We’ve got a strong case. We’ll convince a lot of folks and move many off the fence. The lay of the land will look very different after Powell has made his presentation,” a well-placed U.S. official predicted.

In his presentation Wednesday, Powell may reveal intercepted discussions in which Iraqis talk about moving weapons-related materiel and brag about inspectors’ missing items, U.S. officials said. The administration on Monday was still deciding which material to declassify.

Intercepts are one of the most sensitive forms of U.S. intelligence, in part because they reveal means of data collection that might tip off subjects and close off ways to gather vital information.

Iraq’s suspected mobile biological weapons laboratories have been a focus of U.S. intelligence efforts for years; finding them has become a top concern of Pentagon planners. But little is known publicly about their number or appearance.

Experts have said Iraq may have installed fermenters, spray dryers, centrifuges and other supporting gear with refrigeration capacity in the labs. The vehicles have distinguishing characteristics that would be visible in the sort of satellite photos Powell is expected to present, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity. He declined to elaborate.

U.S. intelligence agencies say the Iraqi regime uses mobile labs to hide biological weapons by disguising them as ordinary tractor-trailer rigs or even recreational vehicles, which have been dubbed “Winnebagos of Death.”

Spotting the weapons labs with overhead surveillance might be possible only when the vehicles are seen near a suspected arms facility, according to one Pentagon intelligence official.

“Once they’re traveling, they’re indistinguishable from overhead,” the Pentagon official said. “If we have imagery of them at their home base where we had suspicions of [weapons] activity, there may be some equipment that’s associated with them.”

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said he expects Powell’s presentation to include details of transfers of technology from other countries to Iraq and an inventory of weapons systems believed to be within Iraq.

“The most compelling evidence is out in the open -- their own statements and inventories,” Hunter said of the Iraqis. Hunter’s committee has held eight hearings in recent months on the Iraqi threat, including three behind closed doors.

Powell said Monday in an opinion article in the Wall Street Journal that the United States does not have a “smoking gun” that will prove its allegations that Iraq is hiding weapons of mass destruction, but he promised to outline “straightforward, sober and compelling” evidence of Saddam Hussein’s concealment of his weapons programs to the Security Council.

He cited Iraq’s alleged removal of materiel from sites that are likely to be inspected and what he said are the regime’s elaborate concealment efforts and its intense “coaching” of scientists before they meet with U.N. inspections teams.

Iraq insists that it does not possess weapons of mass destruction and that it fully disclosed its weapons programs in a December inventory handed over to the council.

Acknowledging differences with allies over how long to allow inspections to continue, Powell also pledged “full and open consultation” to determine the next steps on Iraq.

America’s top diplomat said a peaceful outcome is still possible. But he warned, “We will not shrink from war if that is the only way to rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction.”

CIA Director George J. Tenet, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) and Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), minority leader of the committee, have been invited to accompany Powell, and Tenet has confirmed that he will go to show his support, a U.S. official said.

Powell is scheduled to meet today with ambassadors and foreign ministers from many of the 15 Security Council members ahead of the Wednesday meeting. Foreign ministers from 11 of the 14 other countries on the Security Council -- Britain, China, Russia, France, Germany, Spain, Mexico, Pakistan, Chile, Bulgaria and Cameroon -- are expected to attend the meeting.

“Anybody with an open mind and open ears and open eyes will see that the Iraqis are failing to comply with the U.N. resolution,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said of Powell’s presentation.

Some in Congress are not so sure. Sen. John D. “Jay” Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, the senior Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said Monday that the material is insufficient to justify war.

“At this point, I don’t think it is compelling,” he said.

Russia, one of the five veto-wielding nations on the Security Council, said Monday that it still hoped for a political solution, but it suggested that force could be used as a last resort.

After talks with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Russian President Vladimir V. Putin said a “meaningful part” of the responsibility for making U.N. inspections work lies with Iraq. Putin also asked U.N. weapons inspectors to explain what they need to clarify the status of Iraq’s disarmament efforts.

Top U.N. nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei said: “There is an agreement that Iraq needs to cooperate more, that the international community is getting impatient and that inspectors should be able to provide positive reports soon.”

ElBaradei, along with chief weapons inspector Hans Blix, is scheduled to return to Baghdad this week for further talks. ElBaradei said the top U.N. officials would particularly like to see a breakthrough on Iraq’s account of chemical and biological weapons.

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Times staff writers Greg Miller and Nick Anderson in Washington and Robyn Dixon in Moscow contributed to this report.