He declined to say whether the government would accept or reject a tough new inspection mandate that the United States and Britain are seeking in the Security Council, noting that no draft of the resolution had been presented to Baghdad.
The world's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEAA), would have a stronger inspection mandate, allowing it to examine not just the facilities Iran declares it has but also sites it suspects could be harbouring secret weapons work.
Mr. Aziz also mocked top American officials for their insistence on a United Nations inspection mandate that would give immediate, unhindered access to eight of Mr. Hussein's palaces, saying inspections in 1998 had covered "each and every corner" of the palaces and found no trace of any forbidden weapons or weapons materials.
In the past two months, United Nations weapons inspections, mandated by American insistence that Mr. Hussein's pursuit of banned weapons be halted, have ranged widely across the country.
"Specifically, for at least the last 10 years, the defendants' role was to perform tests and inspections mandated by the New York City building code relating to the strength and quality of concrete used in construction projects," the indictment said.
But neither Mr. Perricos nor Mr. Baute was ready to comment, based on the initial inspections, on the issue behind the months of American threats that led to the United Nations Security Council's action earlier this month in approving the tough new weapons-inspection mandate: whether Iraq still has banned weapons programs, or has abandoned them, as senior Iraqi officials have insisted.
But from the beginning, the inspectors have been careful to emphasize that a readiness to comply with the procedures laid down by the new inspections mandate -- a sharp break from the record of the 1990's, when Iraq did everything possible to frustrate the inspections -- is only a first step.
Another watershed will come when Iraq delivers a list of all scientists, engineers and officials who have worked since 1998 in fields related to the banned weapons, as required by the tough new inspections mandate passed by the Security Council last month.
A far sterner test for Iraq is expected to come after Dec. 8, when Mr. Hussein's government is required by the United Nations Security Council's new weapons-inspection mandate to declare all of its activities in the field of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons development, as well as any banned work on missiles and ordnance.
Bush administration officials have said the United States might act on its warnings of military action against Iraq if it commits even a single serious breach of its obligations under the tough new weapons-inspection mandate passed by the Security Council last month.
