U.N. Weapons Chief Quits Iraq

In what has become a six-month ritual, Iraq sent the chief U.N. weapons inspector home in frustration Tuesday.

Richard Butler ended a round of talks in Baghdad without giving the Iraqis the clean bill of health on the program to destroy Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz demanded that Butler tell the U.N. Security Council its demands had been met, a declaration that would end the U.N. sanctions that have taken a toll on the Iraqi people.

Butler refused. The reason seems to be a recent find in the Iraqi desert. Weapons inspectors dug out of the desert parts of a missile with traces of the deadly nerve gas VX on it. That, the inspectors believe, makes a lie out of Iraqi claims of never having developed VX to a weapons-grade level.

Aziz accused the U.S. of "planting" the VX on the missile parts.

"I have had the impression that UNSCOM [the UN weapons commission] is back to its old games and tricks," he said. "The manner in which the inspection teams have acted recently is neither honest nor fast. The policy seems to serve the United States."

The Iraqis seem to be trying to build up support for their position as victims in advance of the inspection team's main U.N. report in October, which will decide whether sanctions can be lifted.

The Iraqis have threatened unspecified "serious consequences" if the embargo is not lifted soon.

Butler will report back to the U.N. Security Council later this week, perhaps as early as Thursday.

Reported by Allen Pizzey