Emboldened by the latest weapons inspectors' report, Iraq on Saturday called on the United Nations to remove crippling sanctions and ban weapons of mass destruction in the entire Middle East - and eventually in the United States. Iraq resumed destroying banned Al Samoud 2 missiles under U.N. supervision Saturday after taking a day off, crushing six more in a process that chief inspector Hans Blix called a "substantial measure of disarmament."

In the past week, Iraq has destroyed 40 of its 100 Al Samoud 2 missiles, prohibited by the United Nations because some tests indicated they could fly farther than a U.N.-imposed limit of 93 miles. It also has been destroying equipment used to make them.

Reports to the Security Council on Friday by Blix and chief nuclear inspector Mohammed ElBaradei praised Iraq's recent compliance. But inspectors also questioned Iraq's motivation, as it began to give the inspectors what they wanted only when the threat of war became immediate.

Blix also documented lingering questions about Iraqi weapons program in a 173-page dossier, which said Baghdad may still possess about 10,000 liters of anthrax, Scud missile warheads and drones capable of flying far beyond a 93-mile limit.

President Bush said the reports indicated that only a war would make Iraq give up its banned weapons.

Iraq Denounces U.S. Request for about 60 Countries To Expel Iraqis

Iraq also denounced a U.S. request for about 60 countries to expel 300 selected Iraqis who it said were undercover agents. Some are operating as diplomats out of Iraqi embassies, according to officials in Washington.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement Saturday night that all its diplomats abide by the laws of the countries they are in, and called the U.S. request "a frantic campaign" by the CIA.

Other Key Developments Concerning Iraq

* Britain and the United States began a diplomatic push for support for their proposal of a March 17 deadline for Saddam Hussein to fully disarm. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw insisted that the measure could pass despite opposition from France, Russia and China, which hold veto powers on the U.N. Security Council.

* _ French President Jacques Chirac pressed his own alternative proposal to the U.S.-backed deadline, a summit of world leaders at the Security Council to work out a compromise. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said that if the United States launches an Iraq war on its own, it would be a violation of the U.N. charter.

* _ Kurds in northern Iraq unveiled their own version of a Statue of Liberty, commemorating the 12th anniversary of their uprising against Saddam.

* _ About 10,000 people in the northern English city of Manchester demonstrated against a war on Iraq. Tens of thousands of protesters also rallied outside a U.S. military base near the Italian city of Pisa, chanting "No to the war!" and waving rainbow-colored peace flags.

*_ The U.N. mission monitoring Kuwait's border with Iraq raised its alert level to stage three out of a possible five - halting routine operations and pulling all nonessential personnel back to Kuwait City - after the U.S. proposal of a deadline. At stage four, the peacekeepers along the border would stop all operations. In stage 5, they would evacuate the country.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Iraqi soldier looks at a U.N. weapons inspectors' car entering the al-Aziziya base southeast of Baghdad Saturday March 8, 2003. (AP Photo/A