Iraq Scatters Elite Troops

Iraq is poised to protect troops of Saddam Hussein's elite Republican Guard from a threatened American attack by scattering them throughout the country, Iraqi travelers arriving in Jordan said Monday.

Word of the preparations, which confirmed an earlier report in a state-run Iraqi newspaper, came as Iraq dispatched diplomats to several Arab countries that joined the U.S.-led coalition in the Persian Gulf War, seeking their support in the standoff over U.N. weapons inspections.

Working to avert a U.S. attack, the Arab League was putting forward a compromise proposal that would create a special U.N. team to check some of the Iraqi president's palaces for signs of banned weapons.

Iraq is taking steps to lessen the military impact of any American strike and to keep Saddam's government in power, even though the country may suffer heavy damage.

A commander of the Republican Guard, which Washington views as key to Saddam's power, was quoted in newspapers earlier this month as saying he expected to spread his troops , estimated at 60,000 to 75,000 a,round the country.

Iraqi travelers arriving in Amman, Jordan, confirmed the reports Monday, saying the government had ordered schools and other government buildings in towns and provinces be available to serve as temporary headquarters for the troops in the event of an attack. The travelers spoke on condition of anonymity.

After the Gulf War despite massive bombing by U.S.-led forces that killed an estimated 100,000 Iraqi troops the Republican Guard emerged largely unscathed.

Diplomats in Baghdad said that most of the 1 million members of Saddam's Arab Baath Socialist Party are also well-armed and prepared to keep order. The diplomats, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was part of the government's plan to avoid the uprisings by Kurds and Shiite Muslim dissidents that followed the Gulf War.