Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark has urged President Bush not to attack Iraq, saying a military strike on Baghdad would be a "massive crime against all international law."   "My message to President Bush is: we have absolutely no right to attack the people of Iraq. ... You shouldn't and must not do it," Clark told Reuters late on Wednesday night.  Clark, who served as attorney general under U.S. President Lyndon Johnson at the height of the Vietnam War, said any attack on Iraq "will be a massive crime against all international law and against all morality and the United States is better than that."

Clark has been a vocal opponent of U.S. policy on Iraq and the U.N. sanctions imposed for Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. He arrived in Baghdad earlier this week he said "out of concern" over a possible attack.

"We are here to urge the people of the world to stand up and say we don't want a superpower beating up on a small nation," he said.

U.S. allies have called on Washington to give the United Nations and other international bodies a chance to try diplomacy before any military action.

TOP SENATE REPUBLICAN CALLS FOR HEARINGS ON ADMINISTRATION PLANS ON IRAQ

The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services committee meanwhile said he wants Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to appear before the panel to discuss how prepared U.S. forces are for a war against Iraq.

Sen. John Warner is the latest GOP lawmaker to insist that Congress be heard in the debate on whether to invade Iraq - even as the administration of President George W. Bush says that congressional authorization isn't legally required.

"Congress, as a co-equal branch of government, is, in my opinion, not going to sit on the sidelines," Warner said in a letter to committee chairman Democrat Sen. Carl Levin. The letter was dated Tuesday and released Wednesday.

Despite the determination of White House lawyers that Bush does not need congressional approval, President Bush's advisers have concluded that it would be prudent to seek some sort of expression of support from lawmakers if Bush decides on military action.

Intense debate also is under way within the administration on whether to seek a U.N. Security Council vote declaring that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein must readmit weapons inspectors.

Warner said the time has come for the committee to hold hearings on Iraq after the congressional recess ends next week. He said the first witnesses should be administration officials - preferably Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers.

In a statement Wednesday, Levin said he has been considering holding hearings on Iraq and would decide after the recess.

Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said Rumsfeld expects to be asked to testify next month and is prepared to do so.

Speaking in Crawford, Texas, where Bush is vacationing, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said hearings would be "part of a healthy discussion about how we move forward on Iraq."

The House International Relations Committee is also expected to hold hearings after Congress returns.

PHOTO CAPTION

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (L) and U.S. Central Commander Gen. Tommy Franks (R) enjoy a joke with the ranking member, Sen. John Warner (R-VA), prior to appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill July 31, 2002. Franks, joined by Rumsfeld, briefed U.S. Senators on the progress and lessons learned during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. REUTERS/Win McNamee
- Jul 31 5:23 PM