U.N. - Iraq accepts return of weapons inspectors

UNITED NATIONS -- Iraq agreed Monday to allow the return of U.N. weapons inspectors without conditions, a spectacular turnaround coming days after President Bush warned Baghdad to comply with U.N. resolutions or face military action.

Iraq's Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said Iraq agreed to unrestricted inspections in a letter he gave to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who announced the decision Monday night.

The White House called the Iraqi offer "a tactical step by Iraq in hopes of avoiding strong U.N. Security Council action."

"As such, it is a tactic that will fail," spokesman Scott McClellan said in a statement.

A White House official speaking on condition of anonymity said the letter did not surprise the administration, because of a historical pattern of such 11th-hour communiques and because Bush administration officials had indications that Iraq was preparing it.

Seeks three things

The administration seeks three things in a new U.N. resolution: a list of Iraqi violations of previous resolutions; what Iraq needs to do to comply; and unspecified consequences Iraq will face if it does not.

The new Iraqi offer meets none of the administration's demands, and U.S. officials see no reason to budge from its position, the official said. A second senior official described the White House's attitude toward the letter as "very, very dismissive."

In the letter addressed to Annan, Iraq said it had "based its decision concerning the return of inspectors on its desire to complete the implementation of relevant Security Council resolutions and to remove any doubts that Iraq still possesses weapons of mass destruction."

The end to four years of stalemate came days after Bush addressed the U.N. General Assembly debate and said that Iraq must comply with Security Council resolutions or face a military strike.

Alluding to talk of a possible attack, Iraq called on the members of the Security Council, which includes the United States, to "respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of Iraq."

The letter further said that Iraq was responding to an earlier appeal by Annan for Baghdad's compliance with Security Council resolutions calling for unfettered access to inspectors, and to an appeal by the Arab League and other Islamic countries.

Annan forwarded the letter to all 15 members of the council and to the chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix.

Months to set up

It was not clear when the council would meet to consider the letter, a first step before sending inspectors back. Blix has said he could have inspectors on the ground within days, but it would take his teams several months to set up on the ground before they could start monitoring Iraqi sites.

Under Security Council resolutions, sanctions imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait cannot be lifted until U.N. inspectors certify that its weapons of mass destruction have been destroyed. Inspectors left the country in December, 1998 ahead of U.S. and British airstrikes to punish Iraq for not cooperating with inspections.

Since then, Iraq has said it would only allow inspectors to return if the sanctions were lifted. The five powers on the Security Council -- the United States, Britain, Russian, France and China -- have remained divided over what the next steps should be.

But on Thursday, Bush told the U.N. General Assembly, at the opening of its annual debate, that the world body could no longer tolerate Iraq's defiance of council resolutions.

Annan credited Bush late Monday.

"I believe the president's speech galvanized the international community," Annan said.