Top UN weapons inspectors arrived in Iraq yesterday for crucial disarmament talks as the US insisted that momentum for a possible war against Baghdad must be maintained.
Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei flew in to Baghdad from Cyprus for two-day talks before they are due to present a fresh report to the Security Council on Friday that could start a countdown to war.
Their trip coincided with news of a new Franco-German initiative to try to avert military conflict. It was announced by a German government spokesman following a Der Spiegel magazine report that it involved sending UN peace-keeping troops to Iraq and trebling the number of arms inspectors.
Chief arms inspector Blix and ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, were to hold a first round of talks with Iraqi officials at 4pm Baghdad time. They had warned Iraq it must take drastic measures to avert a US-led attack to rid it of alleged weapons of mass destruction.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a security conference in Germany that the world was serious about disarming Baghdad and sharply rebuked France, Germany and Belgium for "inexcusable" stalling of NATO moves to protect Turkey from any war in its neighbor Iraq.
"No one wants war. War is never a first or an easy choice. But the risks of war need to be balanced against the risks of doing nothing while Iraq pursues weapons of mass destruction," Rumsfeld told the conference in Munich.
"Clearly, momentum is building, momentum that sends a critically important message to the Iraqi regime -- about our seriousness of purpose and the world's determination that Iraq disarm.
"This is not months or years, this is days or weeks we're going to know whether they are going to cooperate," he said.
"He [Iraqi President Saddam Hussein] has not been contained, he is successfully getting into that country darn near everything he wants."
Rumsfeld said NATO's failure to agree on even planning minimal defense measures for alliance member Turkey risked undermining NATO's credibility.
Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer of Germany, a firm opponent of war on Iraq, replied that Berlin stood by NATO obligations but wanted to wait until after the UN inspectors' report.
Confirming the Franco-German initiative, a German government spokesman said: "I can confirm that there are joint considerations on finding a peaceful alternative to a military solution to the Iraq conflict." He gave no details.
The Spiegel report, citing a government source, said the plans were to be presented to the UN Security Council and would also involve stricter regulations on exports to Iraq and an agreement with Iraq's neighbors to stop oil smuggling.
As Blix and ElBaradei arrived in Iraq, thousands of armed volunteers, some wearing gas masks, paraded in the city of Tikrit, Saddam's birthplace 175km north of Baghdad.
US President George W. Bush has said the UN must soon decide whether to back America's demand that Iraq abandon its alleged chemical, biological and nuclear programs or be disarmed by force. Iraq denies having any such weapons.
Blix and ElBaradei said on Friday that securing private interviews with Iraqi scientists -- to protect informers from reprisals -- and spy plane flights were on their agenda.
Iraq has refused to allow U2 spy planes to fly over its territory, which the US says are needed to monitor sites it alleges are being demolished or doctored by Iraq.
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