IRAQ: Bad weather forced UN weapons inspectors to abandon aerial searches of suspect sites in Iraq yesterday, but experts on the ground pushed ahead with a hunt for alleged weapons of mass destruction.
Witnesses said three UN helicopters carrying inspectors had to turn back to Baghdad due to bad weather conditions over north-western Iraq. The aircraft, accompanied by two Iraqi helicopters, had flown for about one hour before abandoning their mission.
Other experts from the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) drove to at least seven sites in central Iraq, Iraqi officials said.
UNMOVIC missile teams went to three sites. Chemical teams went to Al Rayah facility in Taji and Ayniyah in Beji, 180 km north of the capital.
A biological team visited a medical laboratory in Baghdad while an IAEA team went to Al Qadisiyah facility north-east of the capital.
An official Iraqi newspaper, meanwhile, challenged the US to provide the inspectors with intelligence on alleged banned weapons, claiming Washington and London had formed an "axis of deception".
"Saying that information and proof exist but this lowly axis does not want to declare them are lies and deception because it (the intelligence) does not exist," al-Thawra, mouthpiece of the ruling Baath Party, said.
Separately yesterday, France urged the US to share intelligence with other members of the UN Security Council.
But the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, said in an interview Washington was sharing intelligence on Iraqi weapons programmes with UN arms experts. However, America would continue to withhold some of its most sensitive information.
The information, provided within the past several days, has enabled UN inspectors hunting for banned weapons in Iraq to be "more aggressive and to be more comprehensive" in their job, Mr Powell told The Washington Post.
Al-Thawra said in its front-page editorial the inspectors were still in Iraq and could check any new information.
"Therefore, we challenge the deceivers in Washington and London to present any tip or lead that prove what they claim against Iraq," it said. "Will they do that or they will be satisfied with telling lies irresponsibly and without shame?"
Dr Hans Blix and Mr Mohamed El Baradei of the IAEA are expected to visit Baghdad next week, before they report back to the Security Council on January 27th. That report is widely seen as possible showdown time for war if Iraq fails to satisfy the weapons inspectors.