Bush: Admit inspectors or accept consequences

US President George Bush today warned Iraq that any delay in admitting United Nations weapons inspectors will be regarded as a breach of yesterday’s Security Council resolution.

There has been no official response from Baghdad yet to the resolution, which gave Saddam Hussein until Friday to agree to allow inspectors in to eliminate his weapons of mass destruction or face “serious consequences” – widely assumed to mean war.

In his weekly radio address today, Mr Bush made clear that America was determined to act if it felt the will of the international community was being flouted by Saddam.

“The world has now come together to say that the outlaw regime in Iraq will not be permitted to build or possess chemical, biological or nuclear weapons,” he said. “And my administration will see to it that the world’s judgment is enforced.

“Iraq must now, without delay or negotiations, give up its weapons of mass destruction, welcome full inspections and fundamentally change the approach it has taken for more than a decade. Iraq can be certain that the old game of cheat and retreat, tolerated at other times, will no longer be tolerated.”

His warning came as up to 400,000 peace protesters from around Europe gathered in Florence for an anti-war march which passed off largely without incident.

Mr Bush’s comments appeared to gloss over differences of opinion emerging within the Security Council over whether resolution 1441 authorises the use of force if Iraq fails to co-operate.

It requires the council to meet in the case of any report of a breach, but does not spell out how a decision on any response should be made.

Iraqi foreign minister Naji Sabri today said that the Security Council had “thwarted” American efforts to use it as a cover for war by refusing to pass a resolution containing an automatic trigger for military action.

Fayssal Mekdad, deputy UN ambassador of Syria, the only Arab nation on the council, said that the agreement of its 15 members would be needed for any punitive action against Iraq.

“In no provision of this resolution is there anything that allows countries to take unilateral action,” he said.

“Of course, if a country wants to attack another country without coming to the Security Council, this is up to them, and they will be judged by the international community and by their own people. In this resolution, there is nothing that allows such an action.”

Chief UN weapons inspector Dr Hans Blix appeared to believe that any decision on war would have to be made by the council.

He is expected to arrive in Baghdad with an advance party of inspectors on November 18, if Saddam accepts the terms of the resolution.

Saddam is required to provide a full inventory of his chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programmes within 30 days of the passing of the resolution.

Decisions on whether Iraq is complying will be for the Security Council, and not the inspectors, said Dr Blix.

“We will report objectively what we see and if there are any violations or any interference with our work,” he said.

“It’s not us who decide whether there is a war. It’s important to be sure what we say, but it is the council that decides if something is a material breach in the first place.

“In the second place, they will decide what consequences they draw from that.

“It’s not certain a material breach will lead to war. Fifteen countries here are united, and they can take other decisions as well.”