FBI arrests six men for trying to join al-Qaida

The United States charged yesterday that Iraq was actively moving to conceal its weapons of mass destruction programs in anticipation of the return of UN arms inspectors.

The claims came as the FBI arrested six US citizens, including a reservist, accused of signing up to fight the US after the September 11 attacks.

They were charged with trying to travel to Afghanistan to join forces with al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Four were in Portland, Oregon, one was in Detroit and one was overseas.

Defence Department spokeswoman Victoria Clarke responded with a clipped "yes" when asked by reporters if Baghdad had recently moved to conceal such programs after agreeing to allow inspectors to return to the country for the first time since 1998.

She refused to elaborate, however, saying only that the Pentagon planned to hold a briefing for reporters next week on "denial and deception" by Baghdad in what Washington says is a continuing drive to develop chemical, biological and nuclear arms since before the 1991 Gulf War.

"In terms of what is going on now, you start to get into classified information. It is for people with a far higher pay grade than mine to decide if and when they put that sort of information out," Clarke responded when pressed.

Another defence official, who asked not to be identified, said there was strong evidence Iraq had recently rose efforts to hide its arms program.

Iraq, which has flatly denied developing such weapons, recently agreed to allow inspectors to return under pressure from US threats of a possible military attack to end the arms programs and remove President Saddam Hussein from power. The Pentagon has recently held detailed briefings for reporters on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs and on what it calls repeated efforts by Iraq's military to shoot down US and British warplanes policing "no-fly" zones set up over northern and southern Iraq after the Gulf War.

Those, along with the upcoming briefing on Baghdad's "denial and deception," appear to be part of a public relations push by the Bush administration to pressure the UN into passing a strong new resolution warning Iraq to comply with UN orders to end its weapons of mass destruction programs or face military attack.

"Lies and deception and deceit are part of this (Iraqi) regime," Clarke told reporters. "It is very, very important for people to weigh the fact that there has been this pattern and this practice for so long.

"It is a very organised, very comprehensive effort that involves a lot of people in the Iraqi regime (and) involves input and guidance from the highest levels," she added.

Clarke and Navy Rear Adm David Gove, deputy director of operations on the US military's Joint Staff, said the US military would continue to drop leaflets on the no-fly zone in southern Iraq.

US A-10 attack jets dropped 120,000 of the leaflets on Monday, the first move of its kind since last October. The Pentagon said Iraq tried to shoot down the jets dropping the leaflets.