US asks Iraq to let UN inspectors in UN

US asks Iraq to let UN inspectors in UN
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

FEB 15: The United States has asked Iraq to allow United Nations inspectors into the country to ensure that all its weapons of mass destruction have been eliminated.

"The United States is bound by the Security Council resolutions and is not trying to modify them but they have to eliminate their weapons of mass destruction that they had been developing," secretary of state Colin Powell said.

"I hope that the Iraqi representative comes with new information that will show their willingness and desire to comply with the UN resolutions and become a progressive member of the world community," he added.

Powell was talking to reporters after his more than an hour long meeting with UN secretary general Kofi Annan who is to meet Iraqi foreign minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf shortly and press that Baghdad allows UN weapons inspectors.

The somewhat conciliatory statement came as a surprise as, during the election campaign, President George W Bush had indicated that his administration would take a tough line against Iraq.

UN inspectors were withdrawn from Iraq in December 1998 ahead of bombing raids carried out by the US and Britain following a report by the then chief weapons inspector Richard Butler of Australia that Iraq was not co-operating with them.

Iraq did not allow the UN inspection team back into the country.

The Security Council later dismantled the special commission which Butler had headed and formed another mechanism with a less intrusive mandate but Iraq rejected that too.