UN experts want up to a year for Iraq inspections

UN arms experts said yesterday they wanted up to a year to complete their inspections in Iraq, even as Washington masses a force in the Gulf that will be ready to wage war within weeks.

The UN inspectors' comments were likely to further fuel an anti-war camp that includes much of the public in Europe and the Middle East and many of their governments.

Top UN inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei go to Baghdad next weekend to demand Iraq account for missing stocks of such items as chemical bombs, nerve gas and missile engines. Iraq says it will answer their questions.

The UN experts appeared anxious to slow the timetable of the attack the United States threatens to launch if Iraq's answers fail to satisfy.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) spokesman Mark Gwozdecky told Reuters in Vienna UN resolutions gave timelines of "somewhere between six and 12 months" for inspections.

IAEA chief ElBaradei said in Paris: "We need to take a few months... How long depends on the cooperation of Iraq."

Asked if the timeframe of a year quoted by his spokesman was conservatively lengthy, ElBaradei replied, "Yes".

President George W. Bush's spokesman reacted guardedly to those comments. "The president thinks it remains important for the inspectors to do their job and have time to do their job," he said. "The president has not put an exact timetable on it."

Tens of thousands of US troops are already in the Gulf or on their way, and analysts say military chiefs want any attack on Iraq to be launched within the next two or three winter months, before temperatures in the desert region rise.

"It is a far better option to wait a little bit longer than to have to resort to war," Gwozdecky told CNN separately.

He stressed that January 27, when inspectors are scheduled to report to the UN Security Council on Iraq's compliance with disarmament demands, was not a final deadline.

"There's a little bit of misunderstanding about this January 27 reporting date. The Security Council is asking us to report but not to have all the answers at that point," Gwozdecky said.

Inspectors briefed the Security Council last week on the Iraq inspections. "We heard unanimous support from the council members that they were four-square behind us, and we believe that they're willing to give us the time that we need," he said.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Washington's closest ally, said there should be no "arbitrary timescale" and added Iraq had to be disarmed peacefully or else by force. "We have complete and total determination to do this," he said.

The newspaper USA Today said yesterday the US force in the Gulf would not be ready for full-scale war until late February or early March because of logistical complications.