The chief UN weapons inspector Dr Hans Blix has voiced regret that his teams had no more time to complete their work before being told to leave Iraq.
However, he acknowledged that Baghdad had left many questions unanswered before he was ordered to pull out by UN SecretaryGeneral Kofi Annan.
"I naturally feel sadness that three and a half months of workcarried out in Iraq have not brought the assurances needed about theabsence of weapons of mass destruction ... (and) that no more timeis available for our inspections and that armed action now seemsimminent," Mr Blix told the UN Security Council.
Since making his last report to the council nearly two weeksago, Mr Blix said Iraq had provided some documents related tooutstanding disarmament issues."Our experts have found so far that in substance only limitednew information has been provided that will help to resolveremaining questions," he said.
Mr Blix appeared before the council to formally present hisinspectors' work programme in Iraq, which defines the 12 key remainingdisarmament tasks required of Baghdad.
He acknowledged that his programme "would seem to have onlylimited practical relevance in the current situation" since all theinspectors have followed orders to leave Iraq under the threat ofimminent US-led invasion.
Later, Germany rejected a claim by the United States that the Security Council failed a test by refusing to unite behind a US-backed bid to disarm Iraq by force.
"The Security Council has not failed; we must counter that myth," German Foreign Minister Mr Joshka Fischer told the open meeting of the council.
On Monday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said the refusal to back military action was "a test that the Security Council did not meet".
But Mr Fischer, challenging the legality of the US-led attack, said "the Security Council is not responsible for what is happening outside the UN". He insisted that it was still possible to disarm the regime of President Saddam Hussein by peaceful means.
AFP