FRANCE: President Jacques Chirac yesterday warned that the US would be "in contravention of international rules" if it attempted to curtail the mission of UN weapons inspectors in Iraq.
Mr Chirac made the statement in the presence of Dr Hans Blix, the head of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and Dr Muhammad El Baradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, both of whom will travel to Baghdad this weekend.
During their joint press conference, Mr Chirac assumed the mantle of defender of the inspectors, expressing France's "total support, trust and confidence" in their "rigour, competence and impartiality".
Dr Blix and Dr El Baradei expressed gratitude to Mr Chirac and France for maintaining unity in the UN Security Council. For two months last autumn, France and the US wrangled over the text of Resolution 1441, which sent inspectors back to Iraq.
This week, Washington gave signs it might try to end the inspectors' mission, with President Bush saying he was "sick and tired of \ games and deception".
On the same day, his National Security Adviser, Ms Condoleezza Rice, went to New York to try to dissuade Dr Blix from preparing a further report for March 27th - 60 days after the first report. US officials quoted by the Washington Post said they would ask the Security Council to disregard Resolution 1284, which established UNMOVIC in 1999, and which calls for the 60-day report.
"We did discuss what happens after the [January 27th\] report, on the updating," Dr Blix said.
"It is clear to me that the United States government is worrying that one would get back to some kind of routine inspections that would drag over the years as they did from 1991 until '98. They feel that with the resolution of last autumn, we have come into a more accelerated pace in which they have given the inspectors much greater powers than before. We are acting in that mode.
"At the same time, I did submit a quarterly report in December under Resolution 1284, and I have another one due in March. I cannot see that anything has been said by the council to cancel that."
Dr Blix said the UN inspectors were not in Iraq to "humiliate".
"We do not want to insult. The Iraqis are a proud and great people. We are there in order to create certainty about disarmament which will save the region from armed conflict."
War was "the worst possible scenario", Dr El Baradei added. "A few more months is time well spent if we can avoid that."
President Chirac agreed.
"Wisdom dictates that we comply with their request, and give them the time that is necessary," he said.
Asked whether Paris could prevent Washington from shortening the inspectors' mission, the French President said it was "up to the Security Council, and the Security Council only", to judge the inspectors' work.
"In consequence, if some country took a measure that was not in conformity with that, they would put themselves in contravention of international rules and regulations. That is naturally a position that France could not support."
Dr Blix stressed that the 11 warheads discovered by inspectors in Iraq on Thursday were empty.
Gen Hussam Muhammad Amin, the Iraqi in charge of disarmament, claimed the rockets were included in the 12,000-page list submitted by Iraq last month.
"I don't know if they're mentioned in the December report," Dr Blix said. "New York will inform me. It's not a big deal. These are clearly empty warheads."
A French official confirmed that the US wanted rapid completion of the inspectors' work. "There's no time limit in the resolution," the official added. But the Americans had "no arguments, no texts, no logic" on which to base their demand. France was far from isolated.
"Our view is shared by the vast majority of the international community. If someone is out of line, it's not us but another big country."
