U.N. Probes Iraq Missile Efforts

U.N. weapons inspectors want to wrap up their work "as soon as possible" so the United Nations can consider lifting sanctions against Iraq, the chief inspector said Sunday, the eighth anniversary of the invasion of Kuwait.

Richard Butler, who arrived in Baghdad to assess Iraq's disarmament efforts, will begin talks with Iraqi officials on Monday.

"Our steadfast aim is to get this done as soon as possible to get to the end of the disarmament phase so the Security Council can consider the sanctions issue," Butler said in Baghdad.

During Butler's previous visit in June, he gave Iraq a "blueprint" of what it must do to comply with U.N. resolutions that call for the elimination of its weapons of mass destruction. On Sunday, he called the plan "an accelerated program of work."

Marking the anniversary of the invasion of Kuwait, a daily newspaper owned by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's son Odai, accused the neighboring emirate of working with the West to maintain punishing U.N. trade sanctions.

The editorial in Babil said that Kuwait has used its resources to make war on Iraq and "to bribe this international official or that to prolong the sanctions."

The newspaper of the ruling Baath party, Al-Thawra, also criticized Kuwait, calling it an "American base." It said Kuwait provoked the Iraqi invasion by producing oil over its OPEC quota, driving down prices at a time Iraq was trying to recover from its 1980-88 war with Iran.

The U.N. Security Council has said that devastating trade sanctions imposed to punish Iraq for its invasion, which set off the 1991 Gulf War, cannot be lifted until U.N. inspectors certify the weapons have been eliminated.

Butler was accompanied by 19 specialists, including Nikita Smidovich, the chief U.N. missile investigator, and Scott Ritter, an American who has angered Iraq with unannounced inspections.

Iraq's Parliament has scheduled a special session Monday to review Iraq's relations with the U.N. inspectors and to discuss power shortages that have plagued the country in recent weeks.

The embargo has devastated Iraq's oil-based economy. Iraq blames the sanctions for widespread poverty, malnutrition and illnesses that have mounted over the past eight years.

Kuwait has said that sanctions including an air travel ban and limits on oil sales should not be lifted until Iraq accounts for some 600 Kuwaitis and others missing since the invasion.

Written by Waiel Faleh