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Hamdoon reads the letter confirming Iraq's decision to cooperate with inspections Saturday night

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UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- As the U.N. Security Council pondered Iraq's offer to comply with United Nations weapons inspectors, Iraq's ambassador to the U.N., Nizar Hamdoon, took a new step Saturday evening to try to clear up any doubt about Baghdad's intention to comply unconditionally.

Hamdoon put in writing that the document annexed to the compliance offer was not a list of conditions, and he announced publicly that the annex "is now history."

The new letter was addressed to this month's president of the Security Council, U.S. Ambassador Peter Burleigh. Hamdoon delivered the missive a few hours after the White House said a military option was still on the table.

"We were poised to take military action, and we remain poised to take military action," National Security Adviser Sandy Berger had announced.

Pentagon sources say President Clinton had already approved a missile strike and that B-52 bombers, armed with cruise missiles, had already left from their base in the United States, when word of Baghdad's original letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan surfaced at midday.

"Once the train is set in motion, you can put on the brakes, and that's what happened," said a senior defense official at the Pentagon.

Sources also say U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf were at "general quarters" and were less than an hour away from launching "hundreds" of cruise missiles, when the strike was halted.

Hamdoon said he wrote the second letter at the request of Burleigh to "avoid confusion" over U.S. and British claims that an annex (addendum) to the letter to Annan contained conditions for the offer.

"I would like to reaffirm what I have already told you during our meeting this evening that the letter dated 14 November 1998 from Mr. Tariq Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, to the Secretary-General included an annex containing the views and preference of the Iraqi Government about the substance of the comprehensive review," Hamdoon's letter said.

"These views are not linked to the clear and unconditional decision of the Iraqi Government to resume dealing with the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," Hamdoon wrote.

There was no immediate response to the second letter from the United States.

Clinton's national security adviser had said the letter from Baghdad with the annex was unacceptable because it was not an unequivocal, unconditional offer of compliance.

Butler

Berger complained that "what we have instead is a letter and particularly an annex that's got more holes than Swiss cheese."

The latest crisis has been building since August 5 when Iraq prohibited field inspections for nuclear, biological and chemical weapons it is compelled to eliminate under Security Council resolutions passed after the 1991 Gulf War.

"We have every reason to be skeptical because we've seen this before -- broken and unfulfilled promises, so-called positive answers that turn negative over time," Berger said. "We have been more than patient."

Berger said the terms of the annex included putting the burden on UNSCOM to prove that Iraq is out of compliance. And it said there would have to be changes in UNSCOM and its chairman, Richard Butler,

The chief inspector for UNSCOM had no comment Saturday concerning the Iraqi government's offer.

"Now, come on, it would be foolish for me to comment on it," Butler told reporters.

As a sign of how volatile the White House considered the Iraqi situation, Clinton canceled his plans to leave for Malaysia Saturday night to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference.

Lockhart

White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said Clinton would remain in Washington and consult with allies to determine the appropriate next step.

Lockhart said Vice President Al Gore would attend the economic summit in Clinton's place, but that the president still hoped to complete the Japan, Korea and Guam portions of the trip.

The United States was the only member of the U.N. Security Council to reject the Iraqi offer outright. The letter from Baghdad was welcomed by France, Russia and China. Britain said it was skeptical but keeping its options open.

"There can be no negotiation, no further deals, no more amendments to what they have agreed," announced British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "In the meantime, our forces remain on alert to the possibility of military action at any time without further warning."

The Pentagon has given no orders to stand down at this point, so the military buildup in the Persian Gulf continues.

"We're still bumping along. All our preparations, all our deployments, are going on as scheduled," said a general officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Air Force officials said 55 planes had left the United States for bases in the region, and by the end of Saturday, at least 12 more would have left.

Officials say all the additional planes should be in the region by Monday or Tuesday, but if all the forces, troops and planes are ordered up, it will take about 10 days to two weeks to complete the buildup.

Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre and The Associated Press contributed to this report.