Iraq invites UN weapons inspectors to Baghdad

Iraq gave the first solid indication in nearly four years that it would allow UN weapons inspectors to return and invited the chief inspector to Baghdad for talks.

The return of inspectors is a key demand of the UN Security Council and especially of the United States, which has accused Iraq of trying to rebuild its banned weapons programs and of supporting terrorism.

In a surprise move, Iraq's Foreign Minister Naji Sabri sent a letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday referring twice to the return of inspectors and hinting that talks with chief inspector Hans Blix could lead to an agreement to get them back to Iraq.

The letter arrived four weeks after Mr Annan failed for the third time since March to persuade Mr Sabri to allow the inspectors back. Unlike many Iraqi letters to the United Nations, this one was moderate in tone and did not contain any political rhetoric.

In the letter, Mr Sabri invited Mr Blix and experts from the UN weapons inspection agency to visit Baghdad for technical talks "at the earliest agreed upon time."

He said Iraq hopes the review of the outstanding issues will lead to agreement on "practical arrangements to resume cooperation" between Iraq and the UN inspection agency.

The letter was sent as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee wrapped up hearings on whether the United States should force Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power. Witnesses at the two-day Senate hearings have generally agreed that Saddam's development of weapons of mass destruction pose a serious risk.

President Bush has called for Saddam to be removed, citing the threat posed by Iraq's development of chemical and biological weapons and its pursuit of nuclear weapons, administration officials insist decision has been made on whether to invade Iraq.

Nonetheless, there have been an increasing spate of media reports that Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is examining military options.

Under UN Security Council resolutions, sanctions imposed after the invasion can be lifted only when inspectors certify that Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons have been destroyed, along with the long-range missiles that could deliver them.

The United States has warned Saddam he faces unspecified consequences if he does not allow the return of the inspectors, who left ahead of 1998 allied airstrikes meant to punish Iraq for blocking inspections.

Mr Sabri said his government wants the talks between Mr Blix and Iraqi experts to review the remaining questions about Iraq's weapons programs and decide on measures to resolve them "when the inspection regime returns to Iraq."

The Iraqi minister said the meeting would follow-up on AMr nnan's suggestion in August 1998 "to conduct a comprehensive review ... and assess the degree of Iraq's implementation of its obligations.

"We believe that this review will be an important step toward the appropriate legal and technical assessment and treatment of the issues of disarmament and to establish a solid base for the next stage of monitoring and inspection activities...," he said.

In a report in January 1999, a month after inspectors were withdrawn, the UN inspection agency issued a 280-page report assessing the status of Iraq's disarmament.

That report mentioned priority issues that Iraq had not satisfactorily resolved such as its development of VX, a deadly chemical weapons nerve agent, its missile production capabilities and many remaining question marks about its biological weapons program. Iraq insists all its weapons programs have been dismantled and it is fully disarmed.

Sabri also expressed hope that it will lead to "a comprehensive solution" and implementation of all requirements that Iraq must fulfill under Security Council resolutions.

At their first meeting in March, Mr Sabri gave Mr Annan a list of 19 questions Iraq wanted answered — some technical and some political. Mr Blix addressed the technical questions at the second meeting in May and Annan sent the political questions to the Security Council.

These questions focused on lifting sanctions, US threats against Iraq, the "no-fly" zones in northern and southern Iraq enforced by American and British aircraft and the creation of a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East.

The Security Council chose not to respond to these questions — which meant Annan went to Vienna with no political answers for the Iraqis.