Iraq extends inspection offer

Iraq has invited experts to search for banned arms

Iraq has invited the US Congress to send a team to Baghdad to search for evidence of weapons of mass destruction.

The offer was made in a letter from Iraqi parliament speaker Saadoun Hammadi, following a meeting of the Iraqi leadership.

The American people do not have the chance of knowing the truth [about Iraq] as it is

Saadoun Hammadi

It comes days after Iraq invited UN weapons inspectors to Iraq for "technical talks" with a view to resuming arms monitoring, suspended since 1998.

The Iraqi overtures coincide with discussions in the Bush administration on ousting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

US President George W Bush rejected Iraq's earlier offer, saying he was still committed to Saddam Hussein's removal.

The latest invitation follows a two-day debate in the Senate last week on the possibility of a US attack on Iraq.

Unfettered access

In the letter, Mr Hammadi said a Congressional delegation would be given "every facility needed to search and inspect any plants and installations allegedly producing, or intended to produce, chemical biological or nuclear weapons".

Iraq is suspected of rebuilding its weapons programme

The US claims Iraq is secretly rebuilding weapons of mass destruction banned since the end of the Gulf War in 1991.

Iraq has refused to allow UN weapons inspectors back into the country since they left in 1998, claiming Iraq was not allowing them to act freely.

Mr Hammadi said the delegation could inspect plants and workshops alleged to produce banned weapons "even if they [the alleged sites] are buried underground.

The four-page letter was sent to the Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority leader Tom Daschle, via the Polish embassy in Baghdad, which represents US interests in Iraq.

Decision to attack

Mr Hammadi, who is close to Saddam Hussein, said his offer was prompted by recent remarks by Congressional leaders that they expected to be consulted ahead of any decision to attack Iraq.

A Senate committee discussed a possible US attack on Iraq

"Once your delegation and experts from all the relevant fields have had the chance to see and search in Iraq... the decision will subsequently be yours," he wrote.

"The American people," said Mr Hammadi, do not have the chance of knowing the truth [about Iraq] as it is."

The BBC's Steve Kingstone in Washington says the latest offer is likely to be greeted with scepticism by the White House.

Broadly speaking, he says, the administration's policy of "regime change" in Iraq has the support of the American political establishment and public opinion.

But, says our correspondent, there will be a sense of nervousness in the president's circle that this latest overture might be seen more favourably by international allies already sceptical about the prospect of a war.

While the US and the UK dismissed Iraq's offer last Friday, France and Russia welcomed the move.