HIGHLIGHTS: Sabri Pledges Full Cooperation with UN Weapons Inspectors|| Bush & Aides Keep up the Rhetorical Heat on Saddam Hussein||Russia Opposes New UN Resolution on Iraq & France Wavers on the Issue||Britain Expected to Take Lead in Drafting New Resolutions||US Foreign & Defense Secretaries to Separately Meet Their Russian Counterparts Thursday-Friday||Bush to Unveil Congressional Draft Resolution Authorizing Action Against Iraq within Days|| STORY: The United States and Britain pressed U.N. Security Council members on Wednesday to toughen the mandate of arms inspectors bound for Iraq and began shaping a new resolution.

Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix told Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri he hoped his mission could get off to a "flying start" and Sabri pledged Baghdad's full cooperation, according to a U.N. statement.

Worried that Iraq's surprise decision to readmit the inspectors without conditions might undercut fragile world support for military action, President Bush and his aides kept the rhetorical heat on Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Blix had been attending a meeting between Sabri and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who demanded Iraq's "full and unconditional cooperation" with the experts to hasten the dismantling of any Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

Sabri told reporters he hoped Iraq's move to readmit inspectors would be "a first step toward a comprehensive solution to the crisis in relations between Iraq and the United Nations and to the lifting of the brutal regime of sanctions, which has been killing our people for more than 12 years."

Benon Sevan, the U.N. official in charge of the United Nations oil-for-food program in Iraq, was also at the talks.
The inspectors must verify that Iraq has scrapped its banned weapons programs before the U.N. sanctions, imposed for Baghdad's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, can be suspended.

RUSSIA OPPOSES NEW UN RESOLUTION ON IRAQ & FRANCE WAVERS ON THE ISSSUE

The United States and Britain want a new Security Council resolution that would lay out tougher inspection terms, but Russia, which has veto power, says this is unnecessary.

France, a permanent council member, has wavered on the issue. "Different options are open," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said, adding that France could envisage a new resolution endorsing terms for inspections set out in 1999.

The 1999 resolution, promoted by the United States and Britain, laid down a work plan for inspections and outlined the path toward an eventual suspension of sanctions.

Britain's U.N. envoy, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, will meet the 10 non-permanent council members in the 15-member body on Friday, apparently to argue for a more stringent measure.

A U.S. official said the United States and Britain were discussing "ideas" for a resolution, but no draft had been completed. Other envoys said Britain was expected to take the lead in circulating a draft late this week or next.

The United States may push its case with Russia on Friday when Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld are expected to meet their Russian counterparts in Washington. Powell will also have dinner with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov on Thursday, diplomats said.

Some council members are wary about a resolution until Blix gets teams into Iraq. "We have been asking that Iraq accepts the inspectors. Inspectors must be on the ground and that should be the priority," Jagdish Koonjal, U.N. ambassador of Mauritius, which has a council seat, told reporters.

Blix plans to meet Iraqi officials on Sept. 30 in Vienna to complete talks on practical aspects of how inspections will work after a nearly four-year break, a council diplomat said.

He will brief the Security Council on Thursday.

Blix's U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission will be checking for any Iraqi chemical, biological or ballistic missile programs. Separate teams from the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were awaiting the go-ahead to resume the hunt for any nuclear weaponry.

The technical talks in Vienna will cover matters such as landing rights, visas, office space and communications.

The inspectors left Iraq in December 1998, just before a U.S.-British bombing blitz designed to punish Baghdad for its alleged failure to cooperate with them.

BUSH TO UNVEIL CONGRESSIONAL RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING ACTION AGAINST IRAQ WITHIN DAYS

Bush said he would unveil within days a draft congressional resolution authorizing action against Iraq. "It's an important signal for the world to see that this country is united in our resolve to deal with threats that we face," he said.

Rumsfeld pressed Congress to give the Bush administration immediate support for a possible U.S. military strike.

In Baghdad, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said Rumsfeld's remarks showed that Washington was determined to go to war despite Baghdad's offer to let the inspectors return.

PHOTO CAPTION

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, right, shakes hands with Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri before a meeting Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2002, at the United Nations in New York. (AP Photo/Beth A. Keiser)