Iraq challenges allies over arms declaration

IRAQ said yesterday it had nothing to hide over its arms programmes and that the United States was even welcome to send in CIA agents to direct UN inspectors to sites it deemed suspect.

Amir al-Saadi, an adviser to President Saddam Hussein, held a news conference in an apparent public relations drive against ever clearer threats of war coming from Washington and London.

Saadi said UN inspections over the past four weeks had shown US and British charges that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction were “lies and baseless”, but Baghdad was still ready to answer further questions from the Western allies.

He said “rehashed allegations” were based on a previous UN inspection mission, which he accused of falsifying evidence to suggest Iraq had continued to develop the deadly nerve agent VX.

Washington and London say there are holes in the arms dossier that Iraq presented to the United Nations two weeks ago and have made no secret of revving up their war machines to back up demands that Saddam come clean, 11 years after the Gulf War.

But Iraq denies possessing any weapons of mass destruction.

Saddam himself demanded the United States stop harassing him: “The world should tell America now there is no need for more aggression and sanctions on Iraq in order to let it cooperate freely (with the UN),” he told visiting delegates.

Saadi, addressing US and British accusations, said: “We are ready to deal with each of those questions if you ask us.

“We do not even have any objections if the CIA sent somebody with the inspectors to show them the suspected sites.

London defence expert Paul Beaver said Saadi’s remarks seemed designed to undermine the US and British case and appeal to those countries less convinced of the merits of war:

“This is an Iraqi attempt to counter what is becoming quite a sophisticated campaign in the West...almost to create a war atmosphere,” Beaver told the BBC.

The US State Department had no comment. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, said: “We’ll welcome any clarification the Iraqis can provide us with. But we want evidence -- procurement records, faxes, original documents, any documents...But not fabricated documents.

The United States last week condemned Iraq’s arms declaration as incomplete and therefore a “material breach” of a UN Security Council resolution adopted in November. Defying the resolution carries an implicit threat of eventual war.

Saadi addressed specific questions raised by Washington and London, for example over attempts to obtain uranium and efforts to develop VX, which he said Iraq had given up. He accused the last inspectors, who left four years ago, of tainting Iraqi samples with VX to fabricate evidence against Baghdad.

He also said the new UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix had asked Iraq for a list of certain scientists working in key fields and this would also be provided by the end of the year.

The United States and Britain are, according to a British Defence Ministry source, planning a massive seaborne invasion if war broke out against Iraq, a strategy planners hope would make troops less exposed to chemical or biological attack.

Israel, also planning ahead, took steps against a possible strike by Iraq, scheduling joint exercises with US forces and gas mask lessons for children, Israeli officials said on Sunday.