Rice urges Blix to be tough on Iraq
WASHINGTON -- US President George W. Bush's national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, on Tuesday met with chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix to press him to acknowledge that Iraq has failed to scrap its prohibited chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programmes ahead of a Security Council briefing on Friday.
'They talked about the inspection process. Dr Rice wanted to make sure that the inspectors had everything they needed to do their job,' said an administration official, who declined to be named.
The hour-long meeting was 'part of the ongoing consultations between the inspectors and members of the UN Security Council,' said the official.
The meeting came as France, which wants beefed-up inspections as an alternative to the US push for military action, sent its proposals to Mr Blix and the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog agency Mohamed ElBaradei.
The initiatives, first put forth by Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin last week, have been 'transmitted to Mr Blix and Mr ElBaradei for their comments,' a French foreign ministry spokesman said.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that the proposals were 'off the mark' and did not address disarmament.
Mr De Villepin's last week called for the number of UN weapons inspectors be doubled or tripled, and proposed spy planes be deployed on reconnaissance missions and the naming of a 'permanent coordinator' in Baghdad.
The proposals also call for a pooling of intelligence resources and the creation of a specialised team tasked with overseeing sites in Iraq already visited by UN inspectors.
On Monday, Paris, Berlin and Moscow issued a joint declaration calling for intensified inspections as an alternative to US calls for war against Baghdad.
Mr Blix and Mr ElBaradei, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency, are due to deliver a key progress report on the disarmament inspections to the UN Security Council on Friday. -- AFP
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