'No doubt' Iraq has banned weapons - Rumsfeld

US Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld said today there was no question Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that "the game…

US Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld said today there was no question Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that "the game was up" for Baghdad.

"It is clear that the Iraqis have weapons of mass destruction. The issue is not whether or not they have weapons of mass destruction," Mr Rumsfeld told the US cable channel CNN in an interview in Doha due to be broadcast later today.

"The issue is whether or not the Iraqi government has made a decision that the game is up and . . . will comply with the United Nations resolution and will disclose what it has and participate in a process with the UN monitoring inspections to disarm itself of those capabilities," he said.

Asked how close the United States was to a war with Iraq, Mr Rumsfeld said: "That's not knowable really, it depends on how the Iraqi government responds to the UN resolution and what the reaction of the UN and the Security Council members is to the way they respond."

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Mr Rumsfeld said Iraq's weapons dossier was only one indicator of Iraq's co-operation or lack of co-operation with the United Nations. He said arms inspectors had so far had not taken out of Iraq those people who might be able to tell more about the country's banned weapons.

Mr Rumsfeld said it was an important stipulation under the UN resolution that Iraq should allow this.