Inspectors Can Refute U.S. Claims, Hussein Says

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said in his first public comments since U.N. inspectors returned that he would give them a chance to disprove U.S. accusations that Baghdad had weapons of mass destruction.

“Some might claim we didn’t give [the inspectors] the proper chance to disprove the American allegations that Iraq produced weapons of mass destruction during the period of the inspectors’ absence,” Hussein said in remarks broadcast Thursday on Iraqi television.

“For that reason we shall provide them with such a chance, after which, if the weaklings remain weak and the cowardly remain cowards, then we shall take the stand that befits our people, principles and mission,” he told Iraqi officials as he congratulated them on Eid al-Fitr, one of the most festive days of the Muslim year.

In Washington, the White House said it had intelligence, not all of which had been turned over to the U.N. inspectors, that Iraq maintained chemical, biological and nuclear arms programs.

Washington has urged the United Nations inspectors, who returned to Iraq on Nov. 27, to be more aggressive in their hunt for weapons.

The inspectors have reported cooperation from Iraq in their visits to 20 sites so far.

No inspections were taking place Thursday or today because of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, but all eyes were on this weekend’s U.N. deadline for Iraq to officially report on its arms programs. Under a U.N. Security Council resolution that its signatories hoped would avert war, Iraq must produce a full list of its weapons programs. Iraq says that, since it has no arms of mass destruction, it will merely be listing “dual-use technology” that has peaceful as well as military applications.