Iraq Willing To Talk

Iraq is prepared to talk to top U.N. inspectors about their criticism of Baghdad's 12,000-page arms declaration, but it has nothing new to add, Iraq's chief representative to the U.N. mission said Tuesday.

In an exclusive interview, Gen. Hossam Mohammed Amin said he saw nothing to justify the criticisms expressed last week by chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Meanwhile, teams of U.N. and IAEA inspectors visited eight sites on Tuesday looking for weapons of mass destruction, according to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry. Among the sites was the Hateen Company, a complex of factories 45 miles south of Baghdad that produces artillery ammunition, among other things.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in a TV interview on Tuesday that Iraq may be transferring chemical and biological weapons to Syria.

Sharon said that the information has not been fully verified.

"We have some information to that effect. We are now working to confirm the information," he told Israel TV's Channel 2 in an excerpt of a program broadcast on the nightly news. In the excerpt, Sharon did not indicate where the information came from or what form it took.

Last week, Blix and ElBaradei said the declaration that Iraq presented earlier this month was largely a rehash of old information, and that they would be seeking more data from Iraq.

That triggered a declaration from the United States that Iraq was in "material breach" of U.N. resolutions, a finding that could be used to justify war.

The declaration, which was required by council Resolution 1441, was supposed to be a comprehensive account of Iraq's nuclear, biological and chemical weapons as well as long-range missiles, and the programs to produce them.

The inspectors claimed that Iraq provided rehashed or incomplete data on topics including the procurement of aluminum tubes that could be used for nuclear weapons development, ingredients for making anthrax, and information on what happened to artillery shells and VX nerve gas.

Blix also said Iraq had provided some new information on missile programs and other issues, and that much of the confusion surrounded "issues that need to be considered or clarified through investigation or technical discussions."

The United States, however, insisted that its declaration of "material breach" was not an instant trigger for war, but officials said the date for the next report from the inspectors — Jan. 27 — could be the target for a build-up of American forces in anticipation of a possible attack.

Washington is saying it will double its military presence in the Gulf to 100,000 troops by next month and U.S. forces on Sunday staged their biggest exercises in Kuwait since the 1991 Gulf War, reports CBS National Security Correspondent David Martin.

The build-up suffered a slight setback on Monday when Iraq downed a $3.7 million unmanned Predator drone as it was flying a surveillance mission over southern Iraq.

Amin said his government was "willing to reach an understanding" with Blix and ElBaradei, but "we have nothing to add, really, of new information, because the information we gave is the real and complete information.

"We know very well, and they know very well, that we have no weapons of mass destruction."

U.S. critics of Iraq have been calling for U.N. weapons inspectors to be able to interview Iraqi scientists in private in a bid to learn more about Baghdad's alleged chemical, biological and nuclear arms programs.

This demand was met Monday with officials from the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, saying they had begun interviewing Iraqi weapons experts for the first time.

U.N. officials in New York and Baghdad said they were awaiting an Iraqi list of former and current scientists who worked on nuclear, chemical, biological and missile programs, expected by the end of December.

Resolution 1441 gives the inspectors the right to interview scientists outside Iraq, with their families accompanying them abroad, so as to reduce the chance that they may come under pressure from the Baghdad government.

Ewan Buchanan, spokesman for the New York-based U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, said the agency was working on a plan for conducting the interviews, in particular how to provide security for the scientists and their families.

Amin said his government would not threaten any Iraqi scientist who accepts an invitation from the inspectors to leave the country for further interviews about Iraq's weapons programs.

Amin said the inspectors had been interviewing Iraqi scientists for about 10 days, and his government saw no need to take them abroad.