Iraq vows cooperation, full weapons accounting

BAGHDAD - Iraq vowed to meet its first big test under a UN resolution by providing a complete account of its arms programme.

Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said on Wednesday (Thursday NZT) that Baghdad had pledged full cooperation.

But, warning of the consequences should Iraqi President Saddam Hussein fail to comply, US President George W Bush said he hoped Nato allies in Europe would in that case join the United States in military action to disarm Baghdad.

"If the collective will of the world is strong, we can achieve disarmament peacefully. However, should he choose not to disarm, the United States will lead the coalition of the willing to disarm him," Bush told a news conference in Prague, where Nato leaders were gathering for a summit of the alliance.

Blix arrived in Cyprus on Wednesday after a two-day trip to Baghdad where an advance team of inspectors is paving the way for a resumed hunt for banned weapons.

The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 requires Baghdad to grant inspectors unfettered access to suspect sites or face a possible US-led attack to force disarmament.

"We had good discussions with representatives of the Iraqi government and (they) assured us they will fully implement the resolution and co-operate with us, so it was a constructive visit," Blix told reporters in Larnaca.

Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who accompanied Blix said: "They made it very clear they will do everything possible to co-operate."

The United States has accused Baghdad of using the four years since UN inspectors were last in Iraq to amass a banned arsenal.

Iraqi newspapers said on Wednesday the inspectors would soon verify that Iraq had no such weapons and the United Nations should lift sanctions imposed after the 1991 Gulf War.

Under the resolution adopted on November 8, the first big test is the December 8 deadline for Iraq to submit a full account of all banned weapons programmes.

Iraqi presidential adviser General Amir al-Saadi told reporters after meeting Blix that deadline would be met and a "report from Iraq will be submitted on all the files -- nuclear, chemical, biological and missile files."

Asked if the inspectors would have unfettered access to all sites in Iraq, Saadi said: "Yes, that is as stipulated in the resolution and as we have agreed with them."

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Iraq's cooperation had deflected the likelihood of war.

"The adoption of Resolution 1441...and Iraq's consent to the return of international inspectors ward off the real threat of war and open a way for a comprehensive settlement of the Iraqi problem," Ivanov wrote in the Russian newspaper Kommersant.

Bush in Prague said he hoped the issue would be resolved peacefully and stressed he would consult US allies before any military action against Iraq.

In the meantime, the White House said the United States was contacting several nations as it began to build its potential coalition for war.

The British government, Washington's staunchest ally on Iraq, said it had received a request from Washington for troops to take part in a possible Iraqi military campaign.

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said no decision had been taken.

The UN inspection team proper, consisting initially of about a dozen people, is expected to arrive in Iraq around November 25, with inspections starting two days later.

Blix left Cyprus on Wednesday afternoon for London. El Baradei plans to rebase to the IAEA in Vienna on Thursday.

- REUTERS

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