Iraq standing firm

Despite offers by the UN to stop U-2 surveillance flights over Iraq until next Monday, Iraq has not shown any signs of resending its decision that prevents UN inspectors from doing their job, so long as they have Americans as members of the team.

Iraq has continued its new policy despite pleas from and the sending of UN special envoys by UN's Secretary General Kofi Annan to Iraq.

The UN's weapon's inspection head Richard Butler claimed that the inspection team was on the verge of finding supplies and related development documents of a lethal chemical that Iraq allegedly had succeeded in developing for use in weapons.

Butler claims that this is the reason for Iraq's new position regarding the inspection team, while Iraq said that they have no objections to the inspection teams so long as they don't have American on them, since Americans are regarded by Iraqi officials as fabricating reasons and deliberately being slow in the inspection process in order to prevent the lifting of the seven year old embargo against Iraq.