Iraq tried to woo the United Nations by announcing the first private interview of one of its scientists by disarmament experts, but poured fresh scorn on US allegations it is pursuing banned weapons and has links to terrorists.Presidential adviser Amer al-Saadi described at a news conference in Baghdad a presentation to the UN Security Council Wednesday by US Secretary of State Colin Powell as "unworthy of a superpower" but disclosed that inspectors were interviewing a biological weapons scientist.

UN spokesman Hiro Ueki confirmed the scientist had agreed to give the interview, the first without Iraqi government minders since the UN experts re-launched the arms inspection process in Iraq in November.

The interview came just two days before chief UN arms inspector Hans Blix was due in Baghdad ahead of a crucial February 14 report to the Security Council on the degree of Iraqi compliance with UN disarmament demands.

A source at Iraq's National Monitoring Directorate (NMD), which liaises with the UN inspectors, named the scientist as Sinan Abdel Hassan Mohyi.

Mohyi was a biologist who currently works at the NMD, the source told AFP.

At the Security Council Wednesday, Powell used satellite photographs and tape recordings to back up charges that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had warned scientists that they and their families would face "serious consequences" if they revealed sensitive information to inspectors.

He said scientists had been forced to sign documents acknowledging that divulging information was punishable by death, with Saddam warning that any scientist who agreed to be interviewed outside Iraq would be treated as a spy.

Saadi dismissed as "fiction" the "orders attributed to our president" by Powell, noting that this, like other allegations he made, had been corroborated only by unspecified sources.

Powell's presentation was "intended mainly for the uninformed to persuade them, for war preparations, and to undermine the UN bodies" charged with implementing UN disarmament resolutions.

"The purpose of the show that went on inside the Security Council was mainly for home consumption, for the uninformed," Saadi said.

"This is the message that was being told to the world and to American public opinion," he said, accusing Powell of "quoting out of context" and "conveniently omitting" details.

Saadi, as he did at a press conference late Wednesday, mocked the intercepted telephone exchanges between Iraqi military officers that Powell cited to show Baghdad had been trying to hide evidence of weapons of mass destruction.

"They were below the level of a superpower," Saadi said. "One can concoct anything, fabricate anything."

Saadi, a scientific adviser to Saddam who handles contacts with top UN inspectors, also said Iraq had been "heartened" by the response of other countries that refused to be influenced by Powell's claims.

He added that Iraq would provide the Security Council with a detailed, written refutation of Powell's accusations.

Said al-Mussawi, a former UN ambassador who now heads the international organizations department at the Iraqi foreign ministry, then took the floor to deny any links between Baghdad and Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, identified by Powell as a key member of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terror network.

"We have no links whatsoever with Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi," he said, adding that Zarqawi was currently in the Western-protected Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq, which has been off limits to Baghdad since 1991.

"We have information that Zarqawi is now in Sulaimaniya in the Bayara region of northern Iraq, which is not under central government control," Mussawi said.

Other Key Developments

_ President Bush said world leaders "must not back down" from Saddam Hussein and demanded quick action to disarm Iraq. Bush said he would be open to a second U.N. resolution, but only if it led to prompt disarmament.

_ Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the crisis will be brought to a conclusion "within weeks."

_ An Iraqi biologist submitted to a private 3 1/2-hour interview with U.N. weapons inspectors, the United Nations said. Hours earlier, chief U.N. nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei demanded a "drastic change" to improve Iraq's cooperation.

_ Turkey's parliament voted to allow the United States to begin renovating military bases and ports, a first step toward opening the way for U.S. combat troops. The vote came after Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said Turkey had no choice but to back Washington in an Iraq war.

_ NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson gave France, Germany and Belgium until Monday to decide whether to stop blocking a U.S. request for the alliance to protect Turkey in case of war with Iraq. Under a so-called "silence procedure" agreed upon Thursday, military planning would begin automatically to deploy early warning planes, missile-interceptor batteries and anti-germ warfare units to Turkey - unless any of the allies raised an objection by Monday morning.

_ French President Jacques Chirac said the evidence furnished by Powell "justifies continued work by the United Nations weapons inspectors. Iraq must answer their questions and cooperate more actively," Chirac said through a spokeswoman.

_ Belgium asked the European Union to call an emergency meeting to discuss a peaceful way out of the crisis. Foreign Minister Louis Michel also said Belgium is opposed to letting NATO start planning its role in any possible war on Iraq.

_ After talks with British officials, Iran's foreign minister called for a second U.N. resolution to help resolve the crisis through diplomacy.

_ The legendary 101st Airborne Division received orders to deploy overseas to "support possible future operations in the global war on terrorism," the public affairs office at Fort Campbell, Ky., said.

_ Powell received effusive praise from Democrats and Republicans on the foreign relations committee a day after he presented the U.S. case against Iraq at the United Nations. "I am proud to be associated with you," said the committee's top Democrat, Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware.

PHOTO CAPTION

Lt. Gen. Amer al-Saadi adviser of President Saddam Hussein, speaks to reporters during a press conference at the Ministry of Information in Baghdad, Iraq, on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2003. (AP Photo/Hussein M