Iraq 'ready to cooperate' with UN

Iraq today said it was ready to discuss a return of UN weapons inspectors, but only in a broader context of ending sanctions and restoring Iraqi sovereignty over the whole country.

"If you want to find a solution, you have to find a solution for all these matters, not only pick up one certain aspect of it,” Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said after meeting UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Johannesburg. “We are ready to find such a solution.”

Iraq has made similar proposals in the past. Annan has said the return of inspectors must be unconditional.

“We are ready to cooperate with the United Nations,” Aziz said, describing the meeting as an exchange of views.

But he said such talks must include not only the return of inspectors, but the lifting of sanctions, the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty in the north and south of the country, and the end to US threats of invasion and “changing our political system”.

Noting that the last team of UN inspectors stayed for seven-and-a-half years, Aziz said new ones would only be welcome “if they come for a special mission,” but not “if they send people who drag their feet for years”.

He reiterated Baghdad’s invitation last month for US Congress members and experts of their choice to search sites in Iraq where they suspect weapons are hidden. The White House has dismissed the offer as a stunt.

Aziz accused Washington of being uninterested in dialogue.

“If the question of so-called weapons of mass destruction is a genuine concern by the United States, this matter could be dealt with reasonably and equitably,” he said. “But if it is a pretext, pretexts can change.

“In the end they will use whatever pretext remains in their hands to attack us,” he said, adding “we are preparing ourselves to defend our country.”

US Secretary of State Colin Powell was en route to South Africa for the World Summit, where he was expected to face criticism from world leaders over the Bush administration’s threats to attack Iraq.