Iraq says there will be limits on weapon inspectors

IRAQ’S vice president yesterday said there would be limits on the UN weapons investigation, though the top inspector says Baghdad has agreed to unannounced checks even on Saddam Hussein's “special” sites.

The question of unannounced checks on sites like Saddam’s palaces, an issue that helped derail inspections in the 1990s, “is settled by the resolution. It wasn’t even discussed,” chief weapons inspector Hans Blix said yesterday after departing Baghdad at the end of a two-day visit inaugurating a new UN oversight program, four years after the last inspections.

The Swedish ex-diplomat was referring to the new UN Security Council resolution describing the inspections as a “final opportunity” for Iraq to meet its post-Gulf War obligations to give up any weapons of mass destruction. In accepting the resolution, Iraq accepted full and unfettered inspections. President Bush has threatened military action if the Iraqis don’t disarm.