Iraq condemns US over dossier

Weapons checks continued despite the diplomatic spat

Iraq has denounced the US for taking charge of distribution of the weapons declaration Baghdad made to the United Nations on Saturday.

The foreign ministry accused Washington of "unprecedented blackmail" and warned that Washington could alter its contents.

The chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix told journalists in New York it was hoped an edited version would be ready by Monday, and a preliminary assessment available by Thursday.

He stressed that what was being taken out of the lengthy document was material that could be "risky" from the point of view of weapons proliferation.

Weapons inspectors on the ground in Iraq have stepped up their operations, visiting five sites on Tuesday - the most so far in a single day.

Inspectors went on a long-range mission near the Syrian border

Iraq's condemnation of the US came shortly after Washington duplicated and handed over copies of the dossier to the other four permanent members of the UN Security Council.

The move - which the US said it took on security grounds - sparked complaints from some of the 10 Council members who have been excluded.

The original version remains in the hands of the weapons inspectorate.

"This American behaviour aims at manipulating UN documents to find cover for aggression against Iraq," the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Syria - which is not a permanent Council member - has protested against the decision to limit early access to the declaration to China, France, Russia, the UK and the US.

		Iraq navigator: Click here to explore Saddam Hussein's Iraq for yourself.

Washington steps in

Other members of the Council are reported to be upset at the extent to which the US took charge of handing out copies to the permanent members.

	Iraq's dossier Contains 12,000 pages in Arabic and English covering Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear capabilities. 2,100 page nuclear component being studied by IAEA in Vienna. Declaration being examined first by five nuclear powers on Security Council. See also: First failure? Dossier breakdown

Norway's Foreign Minister Jan Petersen objcted to being treated as " a second-class country".

Reuters news agency quoted a diplomat as saying he believed the Iraqi declaration listed foreign suppliers which had dealt with Iraq, a potentially embarrassing revelation for Council members and other nations.

Syria's ambassador to the UN, Mikhail Wehbe, said the decision to allow the US principal access was "in contradiction to... every kind of logic in the Security Council".

In a BBC interview, Mr Wehbe expressed fears that the five big powers might claim Iraq was in material breach of UN Resolution 1441 - triggering "serious consequences" - before non-permanent members of the Security Council had even seen the dossier.

New inspections

More weapons inspectors have been arriving in Iraq, bringing the total force to about 70.

In a first long-range mission, one of Tuesday's inspections took a team to a remote a remote mine close to the Syrian border once used to extract uranium.

Unmovic inspectors also went to at least two sites near Baghdad on Tuesday:

• a laboratory associated with Iraq's discontinued germ warfare programme in Abu Ghurayb near Baghdad and
• Al-Furat Chemical Industries General Company, which has ties with the Ministry of Industry and Minerals, south of the capital