Iraq pledges to hand UN arms statement by deadline

Iraq promised yesterday to meet a UN deadline to hand over a declaration on its arms programmes, but insisted it had no weapons of mass destruction to confess to. In line with Baghdad's avowed policy of complying with UN inspections in the hope of averting a full-scale US attack, an Iraqi official said a statement would be provided on Saturday - a day before time runs out.

But in a reminder that a low-intensity conflict is already being waged, Iraq said anti-aircraft batteries had opened fire at US and British planes over the southern "no-fly" zone yesterday. He reported no firing by the Western jets.

Kuwaiti officials said an Iraqi vessel had opened fire at two Kuwaiti coastguard boats in northern Kuwaiti waters yesterday. There was no immediate comment from Iraqi authorities.

"We are going to deliver this declaration in the proper time on the seventh of this month and the people here, the UNMOVIC and IAEA, will take this declaration to New York and Vienna," said Hussam Mohammed Amin, head of the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate, referring to the two arms inspection bodies.

"Of course the declaration will have new elements but these new elements will not, shall we say, necessarily include a declaration of the presence of weapons of mass destruction.

"We are a country devoid of weapons of mass destruction. This fact is known to all countries including the United States of America and Britain and all those concerned."

US President George Bush said on Monday Iraq had to supply a "credible and complete" list of its nuclear, biological and chemical weapons by Sunday - the December 8 deadline set by UN Security Council Resolution 1441.

"Any act of delay, deception or defiance will prove that Saddam Hussein has not adopted the path of compliance and has rejected the path of peace," Bush said. "So far the steps are not encouraging."

In the range of Iraqi technology being investigated by UN experts, there are many grey areas - such as components that can be used to produce weapons of mass destruction, but can also be used in conventional arms or peaceful civilian activities.

Analysts said the Iraqi president might choose to offer some genuine revelations. These would not convince the United States or Britain that he had come clean, but could lend weight to arguments that UN inspections must be given more time.

"The clever thing would be to throw in a few things he is reasonably sure we don't know about," said Steven Simon, deputy director of the International Institute of Strategic Studies. "This would create an impression of Iraqi cooperation and make problems for the US and Britain in the Security Council.

UN arms inspectors searched one of Saddam's lavish palace compounds in Baghdad yesterday in the biggest test of Iraqi cooperation since arms inspections resumed.

Teams of inspectors entered al-Sojoud palace, one of several presidential compounds across Iraq, in central Baghdad. Inspections of presidential palaces were a repeated source of confrontation between Iraq and UN inspectors in the 1990s.

"Open the gate, we want to come in," an inspector told guards at the palace gate. "We can't, we are waiting for orders," one replied. The inspector protested and a few minutes later the gates were opened.

The UN Security Council demands that access to sites be immediate and unfettered.

Journalists were allowed a peek inside the grandiose palace ground after the UN experts and their Iraqi "minders" left.

They were taken through a palm-lined driveway surrounded by rose gardens. Statuary stood at the entrance and throughout a domed inner courtyard.

Inside the palace were marble fountains and gold-coloured elevator doors. A plaster model of the compound showed damage from Western bombardment during the 1990s.

The inspectors left the compound after one hour and 45 minutes without speaking to journalists.

Weapons inspectors pulled out of Iraq in 1998, accusing authorities of obstructing their work. Last month's UN Security Council resolution set tough guidelines for the new inspections, abolishing special arrangements for the palaces.

UN documents say Saddam's eight palace compounds contain more than 1,000 buildings - luxury mansions, smaller guest villas, office complexes, warehouses and garages.

Hawkish US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said in London war with Iraq was not inevitable, but that Saddam would have to go further than ever before if he wanted to avoid war.

"Our goal is to achieve the disarmament of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, peacefully if possible, voluntarily if possible, by force if necessary," he said before flying to Turkey.

China said it hoped for a diplomatic solution. Russia said five days of arms inspections gave grounds for optimism.

Iraq invaded and occupied neighbouring Kuwait in 1990 until its troops were driven out by US-led forces in the 1991 Gulf War. Kuwait is a likely base for a new US attack on Iraq.

Some 700 US Central Command staff arrived in the Gulf state of Qatar this week to test what could be the nerve centre of a war against Iraq. Exercise Internal Look, to start next week, is a war game to test command, control and communications.