Congress uneasy over Powell shift on Iraq

WASHINGTON Ñ Republicans in Congress are expressing concern over the prospect that the Bush administration will approve the easing of United Nations sanctions on Iraq.

Both House and Senate Republicans are asking whether the new policy being promoted by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will help Iraq's military rearmament program, which includes Baghdad's drive to obtain long-range missiles and nonconventional warheads.

"The rationale for sanctions is to prevent the production of weapons of mass destruction," House International Relations Committee chairman Henry Hyde said. "Does weakening sanctions help us achieve this goal?"

Hyde, an Illinois Republican, said he will hold committee hearings on Powell's recommendations to ease sanctions. U.S. officials said this would include allowing Iraqi import of a range of dual-use items.

Powell's recommendations are expected to come under criticism on Thursday in the Senate. The Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs has scheduled a hearing presided by Sen. Sam Brownback, an advocate of a tough U.S. policy toward Iraq.

One witness will be Richard Perle, a former Pentagon official during the Reagan administration and regarded as one of the most vociferous critics of the former Clinton administration's policy toward Iraq.

U.S. officials said Powell is convinced that the international coalition against Saddam will crumble within months unless major changes are implemented in the UN sanctions policy. They said this was also the conclusion of the Clinton administration.

"If you tighten the controls on the weapons of mass destruction and further define the dual-use equipment," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said, "then you can remove some of your restrictions, make the civilian stuff go more smoothly. And that will be the direction."

The officials said the administration would also review U.S. sanctions on Iran and Libya. They suggested that if U.S. policy succeeds toward Iraq, Washington could move toward easing sanctions on Teheran and Tripoli.