The former chief UN arms inspector has accused the United States and other powers of exploiting United Nations inspection teams in Iraq for their own political ends, including tracking President Saddam Hussein's movements.
Mr Rolf Ekeus, the Swedish diplomat who led the first inspections for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs from 1991-1997, said that, at times, crises were created that could possibly form the basis for military action.
The comments by Mr Ekeus, who has in the past harshly criticised Iraqi actions towards the inspectors, are bound to enforce Iraq's view that some UN inspectors were sent by Washington to spy on Baghdad.
Iraq has not allowed the arms experts to return since they left on the eve of a US-British bombing raid in December 1998 aimed at punishing Baghdad for not cooperating with inspections.
Mr Ekeus was unclear about which incidents had taken place when he ran the inspection teams and which occurred under his successor, Mr Richard Butler, who resigned after two years. The current head of the inspectors is Mr Hans Blix, also a Swede.
"There is no doubt that the Americans wanted to influence the inspections to further certain fundamental US interests," Mr Ekeus said. "I don't think this was the case during the first few years as there was, at that time, a genuine concern about the weapons of mass destruction that Iraq could have."
He said the United States had wanted information about how Iraq's security services were organised and what its conventional military capacity was.
Mr Ekeus said he was "conscious" of the United States seeking information on where President Saddam Hussein was hiding, "which could be of interest if one were to target him personally".