Germany and France are working on a new plan to try to avert war in Iraq that would compel Baghdad to admit thousands of U.N. troops to enforce disarmament and tighter sanctions, a magazine said on Saturday. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he knew nothing officially of the proposal. Germany's leading news magazine Der Spiegel said the idea had originated in the office of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Berlin and Paris had been working on the details of the initiative in secret talks since the beginning of the year.

A German government spokesman confirmed Berlin and Paris were collaborating to find a peaceful alternative to war with Iraq, but would not provide any details of the efforts.

German government sources said the initiative built on proposals made by French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin this week to intensify weapons inspections in Iraq and offer French reconnaissance planes to support them.

Washington Not Informed of the Plan

After talks with German Defense Minister Peter Struck in Munich, Rumsfeld said he had not been officially informed of the initiative. U.S. officials said it was "extraordinary" Rumsfeld had not been told of the plan.

"I heard about it from the press. No official word. I have no knowledge of it," Rumsfeld told journalists after the meeting with Struck on the sidelines of a major security conference.

A senior U.S. official said Rumsfeld had questioned Struck on reports of the proposal to beef up inspections in Iraq and the German side had confirmed they were talking to the French but were not ready to discuss the plan with the Americans.

"We're now making the point to every Frenchman and German we find that that is not the way to have a winning hand with the United States," the official said.

Struck would only say the plan represented a "concrete proposal," but added he did not want to preempt an address by Schroeder on Iraq to the German parliament on Thursday.

Old Europe Strikes Back

Schroeder, who has angered Washington with his opposition to any war with Iraq, would discuss the idea at the weekend with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Der Spiegel said. France would probably take over driving the initiative forward and use it as a basis for a new Security Council resolution proposal.

French and German reticence over war has infuriated Washington, prompting Rumsfeld to label them "old Europe," saying they were isolated in a continent whose center of gravity was shifting east to embrace U.S. allies in central Europe.

The French Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the proposal but French diplomatic sources confirmed Paris was discussing bolstering inspections with Security Council members.

French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told the Munich conference Paris believed inspections had proved more effective than the Gulf War of 1991 in disarming Iraq, but did not rule out military action as a last resort to make Baghdad cooperate.

"That's why France has proposed reinforcing the means given to inspectors, to reinforce the number of inspectors," she said.

In an advance copy ahead of publication on Sunday, Der Spiegel said Berlin and Paris wanted to publish their proposal in the next few days before weapons inspectors in Iraq report back to the U.N. Security Council on Friday.

Initial reactions from Security Council veto-holders Russia and China and European Union president Greece were positive, the magazine said, while Pope John Paul had offered German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer support for the initiative.

A De Facto 'UN Protectorate'

Der Spiegel said the initiative, which it said had been dubbed "Project Mirage," included the following proposals:

*-- the some 150,000 U.S. troops already deployed to the Gulf should stay in place to force Baghdad to cooperate and be ready to invade if it breaches the new proposed U.N. resolution;

*-- Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would be forced to admit thousands of armed U.N. troops to oversee intensified weapons inspections in the whole country as well as full disarmament, creating a de facto "U.N. protectorate";

*-- the number of weapons inspectors should be tripled from the current 100 operating in Iraq;

*-- the no-fly zone over northern and southern Iraq should be extended to cover the whole country and French, German and U.S. reconnaissance planes should be allowed to patrol the skies;

*-- a permanent U.N. coordinator of arms inspections in Iraq could be appointed;

*-- sanctions should be made more focused to clamp down on oil smuggling by Iraq's neighbors and tighten export controls;

*-- a special U.N. court should be established to oversee infringements of the new resolution and human rights abuses;

The magazine said the initiative could help Schroeder out of the corner he seemed to have backed himself into over Iraq, risking international isolation if he sticks to his anti-war stance but political suicide at home if he changes course.

He could sell the proposal to war-weary Germans as a last-ditch bid to avert conflict, but swing behind any military action if Baghdad failed to go along with the plan, it said, although without the involvement of German troops.

President Bush has said the United Nations must soon decide whether to back his demand that Iraq abandon its alleged chemical, biological and nuclear programs or be disarmed by force.

PHOTO CAPTION

Thuringia's State Prime Minister Bernhardt Vogel (L) smiles as French President Jaques Chirac (C) and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (R) shake hands after unveiling a monument by French artist Chantal de la Chauviniere-Riant showing late French President Charles de Gaulle (sculpture L) and late German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (sculpture R) in Berlin, January 23, 2003. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann - Jan 23 1