US/IRAQ: Mr Scott Ritter, a former UN arms inspector who rejects US charges that Baghdad is developing weapons of mass destruction, said in Baghdad on Sunday it would be a "historical mistake" for Washington to attack Iraq.
The US national, who arrived on Saturday on a visit he arranged hoping to help stop any US-led war, defied his government to substantiate its claim that Baghdad was producing prohibited weapons and posed a threat to its neighbours.
Mr Ritter, who for seven years was a member of the UN body in charge of dismantling Iraq's weapons, urged Baghdad to let UN weapons inspectors return without conditions.
"My country seems to be on the verge of making a historical mistake," Mr Ritter told Iraq's parliament, in reference to a possible US attack on Iraq.
"The rhetoric of fear that is disseminated by my government has not, to date, been backed by hard facts that substantiate any allegations that Iraq is today in possession of weapons of mass destruction or has links to terror groups responsible for the September 11th attacks on the United States," he said.
Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell took issue with Mr Ritter's assertion, telling the Fox News Sunday programme "we have facts, not speculation".
"I would not place the security of my nation or the security of our friends in the region on that kind of an assertion by somebody who's not in the intelligence chain any longer," Mr Powell said.
Meanwhile, Western diplomatic sources indicated that the International Atomic Energy Agency had no evidence that Iraq was developing nuclear weapons at a former site previously destroyed by UN inspectors, despite claims made by British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair.
After his talks on Saturday with President Bush at Camp David, Mr Blair referred to the "real" threat of Mr Saddam Hussein's nuclear programme. He said: "We only need to look at the report from the International Atomic Energy Agency. . . showing what has been going on at the former nuclear weapons site to realise that."
The prime minister was speaking after the agency issued a statement insisting it had "no new information" on Iraq's nuclear programme since December 1998 when its inspectors left Iraq.
Claims made by Mr Blair and in the New York Times were based on commercial satellite pictures bought by the agency, which show a reconstructed building, a well-placed source who asked not to be identified said. "You cannot draw any conclusions. The satellites were only looking at the top of a roof," he added. - (Reuters, Guardian Service)