British intelligence on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to war was “seriously flawed” and “open to doubt” Lord Butler’s inquiry declared today.

Britain and France want to turn the UN inspection force that worked in Iraq before the war into a permanent agency authorised to investigate biological weapons and missile programmes worldwide, The Associated Press has learned.

Chief UN inspector Hans Blix criticised the US for insisting so vehemently that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and not producing the evidence.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has named a veteran arms expert as the acting chief weapons inspector to replace Hans Blix, who oversaw a fruitless search for illicit Iraqi weapons and is retiring.

UN Chief Weapons Inspector Dr Hans Blix yesterday hit out at the “bastards” in Washington, who he claims ran a smear campaign against him.

UN inspectors had many questions and leads to pursue on chemical and biological weapons in Iraq when their searches were suspended just before the US-led invasion, chief inspector Hans Blix said in a new report today.

THE United Nations has asked for a fresh report from its chief weapons inspector Hans Blix as it considers sending teams back to Iraq.

The UN Security Council has asked chief weapons inspector Hans Blix to brief members next week as the US fielded its own disarmament teams inside Iraq and Secretary-General Kofi Annan pressed for UN experts to return as quickly as possible.

Chief United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix today expressed his disappointment at the decision to go to war when his teams had not completed their work of eliminating Iraq’s illicit weapons programmes.

IRAQ destroyed two more banned al-Samoud missiles yesterday and said it had sent in another report proving it had destroyed VX nerve gas in 1991.

IRAQ will send a report on its disposal of VX nerve agent to chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix today and another report on anthrax a few days later, a diplomatic source said.

UN arms inspectors yesterday said they had withdrawn two U-2 reconnaissance planes over Iraq for safety reasons after Baghdad complained both aircraft were in the air simultaneously.

Iraq has forced the suspension of US spy flights, threatening one of two U-2 planes already in the air, a senior American official said today.

IRAQ last night indicated it could suspend its missile destruction if the US presses ahead with its war plans.

IN a new sign of Iraqi co-operation with UN arms inspectors, Baghdad yesterday disclosed it had found documents relating to the disposal of weapons of mass destruction in 1991 and to an R-400 bomb, chief inspector Hans Blix said yesterday.

Saddam Hussein promised a Russian envoy that international inspectors will not be hindered in their work, the Russian Foreign Ministry today.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has declared that Baghdad wants peace – but not at the price of its dignity and independence.

UN arms inspectors conducted a private interview with an Iraqi scientist yesterday and scoured 13 suspect weapons sites across Iraq.

Just days before a crucial round of talks with chief inspectors, a senior Iraqi official said today that Baghdad was “keen to resolve any pending issues” in the UN search for banned weapons, but didn’t immediately offer new concessions.

Weapons inspectors in New York and Vienna began combing through Iraq’s massive dossier detailing its chemical, biological and nuclear programmes today, to determine whether Baghdad is complying with United Nations Security Council resolutions.

UN experts searched a geological survey facility in Baghdad and a pesticides factory to the northwest yesterday, pursuing a hunt for banned weapons after Iraq handed over a declaration of its arms programmes.

Copies of a massive Iraqi document detailing the country’s chemical, biological and nuclear activities were today flown out of Baghdad for analysis by experts at the United Nations and International Atomic Energy Agency.

UN arms inspectors showed off state-of-the-art equipment yesterday and reminded President Saddam Hussein his own palace complexes will no longer be off-limits when they resume their hunt for banned Iraqi weapons.

THE first team of UN inspectors landed in Iraq yesterday to resume the hunt for chemical, biological and/or nuclear arms programmes.

The first team of UN inspectors landed in Iraq today to take up the hunt for chemical, biological or nuclear arms programs, a search whose outcome could help determine the future of peace in the Middle East.

In a long, stern letter to the United Nations, Iraq’s foreign minister complains that the new Security Council resolution on weapons inspections provides a pretext for the United States to wage war against his country.

The UN Security Council resolution on Iraq in full.

Weapons inspectors could be back in Iraq within days of a United Nations decision to order their return, the world’s nuclear watchdog said today.