Iraq hands over dossier on military programmes

12.00pm

BAGHDAD - Iraq has handed the United Nations a huge dossier on its military programmes, denying Iraq has any banned weapons and setting the stage for a confrontation with Washington.

Kuwait meanwhile rejected an apology from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein for Iraq's 1990-1991 occupation of the Gulf Arab state and accused him of using it as a pretext to incite attacks against US troops currently training in Kuwait.

Hussam Mohammed Amin, head of the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate, said that in the dossier he delivered to UN inspectors in Baghdad: "We declared that Iraq is empty of weapons of mass destruction. I reiterate Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction."

The White House said it would analyse Iraq's declaration on banned weapons for its "credibility and compliance", but expressed scepticism.

"The US government will analyse this declaration with respect to its credibility and compliance," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said in a statement.

"We will continue to work with other countries to achieve the ultimate goal of protecting the peace by ending Saddam Hussein's pursuit and accumulation of weapons of mass destruction," he added.

US President George W. Bush said earlier on Saturday his administration would take some time to judge the declaration, but repeated that it would disarm Iraq by force if necessary. Earlier this week he said bluntly that Iraq did indeed have weapons of mass destruction.

"MATERIAL BREACH"

US officials said on Friday Washington was expected to declare Iraq in "material breach" of last month's UN resolution 1441 if it stated it had no such weapons, setting the stage for a possible US military attack on Iraq.

But they said Washington would not cite the breach as immediate grounds for war, letting UN inspections continue while Bush courts partners to help strike Iraq if needed.

The dossier has 11,807 pages, 352 pages of supplements and computer disks with 529 megabytes of data, according to captions on a display in the Directorate headquarters.

Hiro Ueki, spokesman for the inspectors in Baghdad, confirmed receipt of the documents and said they would be quickly passed on to the headquarters of the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is helping with the inspections.

Amin said the dossier details "some activities that are dual-use", referring to technology which has both peaceful and military applications. Reporters were not shown the contents.

"If the US has minimum levels of fairness and bravery it should accept the report," Amin said.

The Iraqi delegation spent 65 minutes inside the U.N.'s Baghdad headquarters and then left without talking to the press.

In a weekly radio address, Bush said the weapons declaration "must be credible and accurate and complete".

"Any act of delay or defiance will prove that Saddam Hussein has not adopted the path of compliance, and he has rejected the path of peace."

KUWAIT SLAMS APOLOGY

Kuwait slammed a letter from Saddam, read out by Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf on Iraqi television, for trying to stir up unrest by urging Kuwaitis to struggle against foreign armies -- a reference to some 10,000 US troops training in Kuwait.

The Iraqi president's letter apologised for the occupation but blamed Kuwait's leadership for precipitating the invasion.

It said the emirate remained occupied by foreign forces, and urged Kuwaitis to join Iraq in its fight against the "infidel" while applauding recent attacks on US soldiers in Kuwait.

"Why will not the faithful, the devoted and the holy warriors in Kuwait meet with their counterparts in Iraq under the blanket of their creator, instead of under the blanket of London or Washington and the Zionist entity, to discuss their matters on top of which is the jihad (holy struggle) against the occupation of infidel armies?"

Iraqi armies occupied Kuwait in 1990 and were forced out in 1991 by a coalition led by the United States, which maintains military bases in the emirate and is likely to use it as a launchpad for any new war against Iraq.

In Kuwait, four men casually listened to the address carried by Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite channel while smoking Arabic waterpipes at a cafe with their backs to the television.

"All lies," said Youssef al-Fahd when asked about the speech. "He (Saddam) is senile," he told Reuters.

"Saddam seems to be having a political breakdown," agreed Ibrahim al-Mullafi, a government employee.

"WAR IS YOUR LAST CHOICE"

The UN had given Baghdad a Sunday deadline to provide a full account of any past and current programmes involving biological, chemical or nuclear weapons.

The United States alleges Baghdad has biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programmes in violation of UN agreements reached after the 1991 Gulf War.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Saddam should try to avert a second war by giving up and fleeing the country.

"Everyone would prefer that he just leave tomorrow," he told Lebanese TV station LBC. "War is your last choice."

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the United States' staunchest ally on Iraq, said he remained sceptical Saddam was genuinely cooperating with UN weapons inspectors.

"Let us hope that it's a true and frank account," Blair wrote in the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat on Saturday.

"You'll forgive me if, knowing all that I do about Saddam's past record, I remain sceptical," he said.

The Iraqi declaration will be vetted by the IAEA in Vienna and the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) in New York.

UN Security Council members have decided to postpone its public release for as long as a week to allow experts to screen it for any military secrets that might help outsiders develop their own doomsday weapons.

Diplomats say it could take a week before the 15 Security Council members get a copy.

UN arms inspectors must report to the Security Council by January 26. They can flag any Iraqi violations sooner.

Weapons experts returned to Iraq last month for the first time in four years. They say Baghdad has cooperated with searches at around 20 suspect sites so far.

Earlier on Saturday a team of UN arms experts revisited Iraq's main nuclear research facility while a second examined a new military industrial research centre.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: Iraq