Iraq is not serious about disarming - UN inspectors

UN weapons inspection chief Hans Blix said today Iraq had not genuinely accepted the UN resolution demanding that it disarm, while nuclear inspection counterpart Mohamed ElBaradei said his teams needed an additional "few months" to complete the search.

The inspectors were reporting back to the UN Security Council in New York.

After hearing their reports, US Ambassador John Negroponte said he had heard nothing that "gives us any hope that Iraq will disarm" voluntarily to remove the need for the United States to take military action.

Noting that Iraq had failed to disarm in the 12 years since the end of the 1991 Gulf War, he said US monitoring of the inspections showed "Iraq is back to business as usual" and cautioned the United Nations Security Council not to ease pressure on Baghdad.

"They are not cooperating unconditionally. In the days ahead, we believe the council and its member governments must face its responsibilities," Mr MrNegroponte said.

In Brussels, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the reports showed that Iraq had truned thhe inspections in a "charade".

Iraq's Ambassador Mohammed al–Douri said "Iraq is clear of weapons of mass destruction."

Mr ElBaradei said inspectors had found no prohibited nuclear activity at new sites visited in Iraq.

Mr Blix said Baghdad was cooperating on access but needs to do more on substance.

"Iraq appears not to have come to a genuine acceptance, not even today, of the disarmament that was demanded of it," he said at the beginning of a crucial assessment on 60 days of weapons inspections.

Mr Blix, head of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission said it was not enough for the Iraqis to "open doors."

"It would appear from our experience so far that Iraq has decided in principle to provide cooperation on process, notably access. A similar decision is indispensable to provide cooperation on substance in order to bring the disarmament task to completion, through the peaceful process of inspection, and to bring the monitoring task on a firm course."

Touching on the question of how much time inspectors need, Mr Blix said he shared "the sense of urgency" to achieve disarmament within "a reasonable period of time."

Mr ElBaradei said his inspectors were making good progress and should not be hampered by deadlines. "We have to date found no evidence that Iraq has revived its nuclear program since the elimination of the program in the 1990s," he said. "However, our work is steadily progressing and should be allowed to run its natural course."

Mr Blix said three questions remain unanswered:

–How much illicit weapons material might remain undeclared and intact from before the Gulf War in 1991 and possible thereafter.

–What, if anything was illegally procured or produced since the end of the war.

–How the world can prevent any weapons of mass destruction from being produced or procured in the future.

He noted that Iraq's 12,000 page arms declaration contained little more than old material previously submitted to inspectors. One exception was an air force document which indicates that Iraq ha failed to account for some 6,000 chemical rockets.

"The finding of the rockets show that Iraq needs to make more effort to show that its declaration is currently accurate."

Inspectors had also discovered a mustard gas precursor during recent inspections."Regrettably the 12,000–page declaration, most of which is a reprint of earlier documents, does not seem to contain any new evidence that will eliminate the questions or reduce their number."

On the nerve agent VX, Mr Blix said the Iraqis haven't sufficiently answered questions regarding the fate of its stockpiles.

On biological weapons, he said Iraq had failed to produce "convincing evidence" that it unilaterally destroyed its anthrax stockpiles and that there are indications that Iraq could have had larger quantities than it reported to inspectors.

"In the fields of missiles and biotechnology, the declaration contains a good deal of new material and information covering the period from 1998 and onward. This is welcome."

He said he would ask the Iraqis to stop tests of two types of missiles while inspectors determine the actual range and capabilities of the missiles.

Mr ElBaradei, head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency, complained that inspectors had not been able to conduct private interviews with Iraqi scientists as demanded in the UN resolution.

The Blix and ElBaradei reports will be key to Washington's efforts to bolster international support for a war on Iraq and to efforts by skeptics to avert one.

In sharp contrast to the administration's stance that inspections have run their course, UN Secretary–General Kofi Annan said earlier that the inspectors should be given more time to their jobs.

"They should be given the time to do their work and all of us, the council and the assembly, must realize that time will be necessary, a reasonable amount of time, I'm not saying forever, but they do need time to get their work done and I suspect the council will allow that to be done," Mr Annan told reporters.

He said he remained hopeful that Iraq could be disarmed peacefully and he praised Blix and ElBaradei, whom he called "determined and independent–minded."

The White House reacted with scepticism. "When people say give them more time, the more time they get the more time they get the runaround," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. "Iraq is giving the inspectors the runaround."