Bush wants UN inspectors back in Iraq, says Powell

US PRESIDENT George Bush wants United Nations weapons inspectors back in Iraq, but even their presence would not necessarily reassure America the threat posed by Saddam Hussein had been contained, US Secretary of State Colin Powell warned yesterday.

Mr Powell is regarded as one of the more "dove-ish" figures in the Bush administration, and his emphasis on weapons inspectors seemed to contradict US Vice-President Dick Cheney, who last week said there was no point in sending inspectors back, and instead promoted the case for military action.

Nevertheless, Mr Powell, whose president has called for "regime change" in Baghdad, did caution that inspections were unlikely to provide "the kind of assurance that we could take to the bank". However, he did acknowledge that the US had to do more to convince its allies of the case for military action against Baghdad.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, meanwhile, faced contradictory advice on whether he should commit British forces to any attack.

Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith urged the prime minister to spell out the "clear and growing danger" Saddam represented, while figures within the Labour movement insisted the case for military action had not been made.

In an interview for the BBC1 Breakfast with Frost programme to be screened in full next week (an extract was broadcast yesterday) Mr Powell said: "The president has been clear that he believes weapons inspectors should return. Iraq has been in violation of these many UN resolutions for most of the last 11 or so years.

"So, as a first step, let's see what the inspectors find, send them back in, why are they being kept out. Now, we should not think that the inspections in and of themselves might give us the kind of assurance that we could take to the bank.

"The president has also said that it is the obligation not just of the US but of the international community to remain seized of this matter. The world has to be presented with the information, with the intelligence that is available. A debate is needed within the international community so that everybody can make a judgment about this.

"I think in the current debate, too much attention has focused on the position of the US, and what debate is taking place within our administration, as opposed to attention being focused on the Iraqi regime."

British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon will meet US Secretary of Donald Rumsfeld for talks widely expected to include the issue of Iraq during a six-day trip to the United States this month.

A British defence ministry spokeswoman would not say when the trip would begin, but said Mr Hoon and Mr Rumsfeld would meet for talks on September 11, the first anniversary of the attacks by suicide hijackers on New York and Washington.

Meanwhile, in an interview with the Italian paper La Stampa, US Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman said Mr Bush had not yet decided how to topple Saddam Hussein's government.