Australia says UN report on Iraq 'very damning'

3.15pm

CANBERRA - Australia, a staunch US ally which has sent troops to the Gulf, said today that a report on Iraq by the United Nations weapons inspectors was blacker than expected and added to fears over the prospect of war.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said it was "very disappointing" there had been so little cooperation from Iraq towards the UN inspectors searching for evidence that Baghdad still has weapons of mass destruction.

"This report is a very damning document..it's blacker than I had expected," Downer told Australian radio.

"Obviously this does change the environment unfortunately in an extremely negative way very substantially."

After two months of inspections, chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix told the UN Security Council on Monday (Tuesday NZT) that Iraq has not come clean on its long-range missiles, chemical and biological arms, and "seems not to have genuinely accepted disarmament demands".

Blix did not, however, back up US claims that Baghdad had rebuilt its weapons of mass destruction stockpile and his report triggered calls from France, Russia and China -- critics of the US argument for war -- for giving inspectors more time.

But Downer said it would make little difference giving the weapons inspectors more time if Iraq was not cooperating fully.

Australia is the third Western country to send troops to the Gulf, joining US and British forces preparing for a likely war on Iraq -- even though opinion polls show 62 per cent of Australians oppose joining any strike without UN approval.

Canberra has yet to commit itself to joining any strike, whether US-led or UN sanctioned, and there is sharp political divide on the issue.

Australia's conservative government has come under fire for starting to send troops to the Middle East before the UN inspectors have finished their job, with about 500 troops setting of last week and another 1500 expected to leave next month.

The Australian deployment adds to a build-up of over 100,000 US ground troops and 30,000 British troops in the region.

The main opposition Labor party has led the protests.

"The UN needs to consider this debate coolly, not have it pre-empted, not by the sorts of actions that Australia has already taken in deploying troops in anticipation of failure," Labour leader Simon Crean told Australian radio.

- REUTERS

Full text: Dr Blix's statement

Herald feature: Iraq