The Clinton administration has repeatedly intervened since last autumn to delay or prevent intrusive weapons inspections in Iraq by UN teams, according to knowledgeable American and diplomatic accounts, writes Barton Gellman.The interventions included at least six occasions, beginning in November 1997, in which Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, or other top administration officials sought - with success in each case but one - to persuade chief UN inspector, Mr Richard Butler, to rescind orders for surprise searches for weapons of mass destruction or to remove a controversial inspector from Iraq.
In March, according to sources, the US and UK put an end to the UN Special Commission's most successful new inspection technique by withdrawing one critical form of intelligence support - including information, equipment and personnel - they had provided to the UN inspectors until then.
Since the first report earlier this month of the administration's efforts to restrain the special commission, Ms Albright has complained angrily to associates that she was portrayed as unprincipled or soft on Iraq. In private conversations, according to accounts of those present, she argued that the administration sought only to control the pace of confrontation with Iraq to create the best conditions in which to prevail.
The US efforts to influence weapons inspections, which are more extensive than previously disclosed, conflicted with robust public rhetoric in support of the special commission's right to make what Ms Albright often called "unfettered, unconditional inspections" of any site in Iraq, at any time.
They also coincided, sometimes to the day, with explicit military threats by American officials against Iraq should it turn the inspectors aside.
By this summer, the administration's commitment to back inspections with military force had been withdrawn and its efforts appear to have shifted toward avoiding confrontation indefinitely.
Several administration officials, and others who have discussed the problem with them, said they were hampered by the likelihood that Iraq would exploit any fresh crisis to build momentum in its diplomatic campaign to force an end to eight-year-old economic sanctions. --(Washington Post Service)
Iraq said yesterday that the resignation of Mr Scott Ritter followed the uncovering of what it called his links with the Israeli intelligence service Mossad and the CIA.