A former United Nations weapons inspector, Scott Ritter, has accused the United States of manipulating the work of the UNSCOM inspection team so as to justify last week's air strikes on Iraq.

In a BBC interview, Mr Ritter strongly criticised the head of the inspection team, Richard Butler, for helping to put UNSCOM into a position where it was unlikely to be able to continue its work in Iraq.

He said inspection sites had been chosen, not for reasons connected with disarmament, but to provoke the Iraqis.

Mr Ritter -- a former American marine -- resigned as a weapons inspector in August, when he publicly accused the UN and the United States of failing to stand up to the Iraqi leadership.