PARIS, Sept 7 (News Agencies) - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell defended Washington's mounting campaign for action against Iraq, arguing in an interview published Saturday that Saddam Hussein, and not U.S. President George W. Bush, was responsible for bringing the crisis to a head.

"It is not the United States who is bringing the battle to Saddam Hussein. It is Saddam Hussein who is bringing the battle to the entire international community," Powell said in an interview with Le Monde newspaper, quoted in French, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The diplomatic chief indicated arms inspections may not be enough to defuse U.S. suspicions that Baghdad is building a formidable arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.

"The president (Bush) called earlier for a return of the inspectors. But inspections are not the objective. The objective is disarmament," he said.

Powell added: "Inspectors are one way to accomplish it. Regime change is another. It is perhaps possible to combine several means in order to reach the objective."

Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa said on Saturday there was a "strong possibility" that Iraq would allow UN weapons inspectors back.

Mussa said he had recent "contacts with the Iraqi government" and had the impression that, following consultations, the way could be cleared for a return of the weapons inspectors.

"Yes, there is room for inspectors to be allowed to go back, especially after a round of consultations and discussions on that matter," Mussa said.

"Our objective is to avoid war, to avoid military confrontation," he added, indicating a need for greater international consultation on the issue.

But an Iraqi minister commented afterwards that because Washington "did not care" about inspections, new inspections would not alter U.S. plans for a strike.

Powell, a decorated retired general, underlined the U.S. commitment to collaboration with allies, sweeping aside global criticism of what many have called unilateral action by Washington.

"Accusations of unilateralism, or 'non-multilateralism,' are clichés, which do not reflect the nature of our relationship.

"That we (U.S. and foreign allies) disagree is not a disaster! The Europeans should not wonder whether the coalition is breaking up. The coalition is solid," he said.

Powell hammered in the fact that Iraq was flouting UN resolutions in defiance of the international community.

"If you believe in multilateral action, we should all be scandalized that this regime has violated these resolutions in the most flagrant manner."

UN weapons inspectors stopped work on the eve of the last major U.S.-led strikes against Iraq in 1998.

Meanwhile, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's political adviser, Osama al-Baz, on Saturday said no one beside the Iraqi people had the right to change the regime in Baghdad, not even the United Nations.

"No state, not even the international community, has the right to intervene to change the regime of a sovereign country," Baz said, quoted by the official MENA news agency.

"The Iraqi people alone has the right to change its regime. A regime change by a foreign force would be illegal."

The Arab League on Thursday, September 5, said it opposed a strike on Iraq, at the end of a conference held by foreign ministers and officials representing its 22 members.