The United States has rejected an offer by Iraq for CIA agents to join UN weapons inspectors by claiming the burden of proof rests with President Saddam Hussein.
Saddam said Iraq was doing all it could to co-operate with the United Nations and one senior Iraqi adviser suggested Washington send CIA agents to direct UN arms inspectors to any suspect sites.
But a White House spokesman said Iraq appeared "not to have made the strategic choice" to renounce weapons of mass destruction.
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Mr Amir al-Saadi, one of Saddam's top advisers, said UN inspections over the past four weeks had shown US and British charges that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction were "lies and baseless".
He rejected US and British suggestions that there were holes in the arms declaration that Iraq presented to the United Nations two weeks ago.
"We do not even have any objections if the CIA sent somebody with the inspectors to show them the suspected sites," he said. Mr al-Saadi accused a previous UN inspection team of falsifying evidence to suggest Iraq had carried on developing a deadly nerve agent.
Washington said last week Iraq's arms declaration was in "material breach" of a November Security Council resolution. Defying the resolution carries an implicit threat of war.
Washington is forging ahead with a build-up that may see over 100,000 troops in the Gulf region in January or February. Experts say planners will need to wage a war before March or April if they want to avoid the desert heat of Iraq's summer.
A January 27th briefing by UN arms inspectors to the Security Council is widely seen as the next key date.