STARING DOWN SADDAM

By DOUGLAS WALLER

Saddam Hussein is like a punching bag. No matter how many times you hit him, he just keeps coming back in your face. This time the Iraqi dictator decreed that Americans would no longer be allowed on the 40-member U.N. inspection team that is hunting for remnants of his weapons programs. He stopped three U.S. inspectors from disembarking in Baghdad last Thursday, sending their plane back to Bahrain, and threatened to kick the other 10 Americans on the team out of his country this week. On Saturday, Saddam produced a mob of angry demonstrators who burned American flags in front of the U.N. offices in Baghdad.

Outraged, the U.N. Security Council unanimously condemned Iraq, ordering the three Americans to fly back to Baghdad and the inspection team there to continue its work. At the White House, national security aides convened an emergency meeting to consider a U.S. response. "This is a very serious move by the Iraqis," said an official. "It threatens the linchpin of what we've built to contain Saddam."

Clinton immediately decided to press the U.N. to add new sanctions to the trade embargo that has crippled Iraq's economy since the country invaded Kuwait in 1990. If Saddam continued to resist, the White House signaled, it was more than ready to use military force. The Pentagon has 18,500 soldiers, 17 ships and 200 warplanes in the region poised to launch a retaliatory strike if the American inspectors in Baghdad are endangered.

Ironically, Saddam's gambit helped unify the Security Council just as he was making headway in dividing it. Last month the U.S. tried to get the council to ban international travel by Iraqi military and intelligence officials after U.N. inspections chief Richard Butler reported that Iraq was continuing to withhold information on its chemical weapons and missile programs. But France, Russia and China balked at an immediate ban, and the U.S. had to settle for a watered-down threat to block such travel sometime in the future.

Saddam decided to take advantage of the deepening split in the council, moving to weaken the inspection team by barring Americans from it. But he "misread the importance of the split," said a senior U.N. official. Though divided on whether to continue sanctions, the Security Council members weren't about to let Saddam dictate who could be on their inspection team. France, Russia and China joined the U.S. in a Security Council statement threatening Iraq with "serious consequences" if it expelled the Americans. "Saddam Hussein has shot himself in the foot again," said State Department spokesman James Rubin, "and it doesn't seem like there's much of his foot left." His wound was far from fatal, however. Russia, which has veto rights in the council, still opposes military strikes or even more sanctions. If the U.S. decides to punch Saddam again, there may not be as many allies in America's corner.

--By Douglas Waller. With reporting by Edward Barnes/New York, Scott MacLeod/Cairo and Mark Thompson/Washington

With reporting by EDWARD BARNES/NEW YORK, SCOTT MACLEOD/ CAIRO AND MARK THOMPSON/WASHINGTON