Iraq to the US and UN team: Put-up or shut-up

In a dramatic move by Iraq, the Iraqi government has opened the door to its off-limits sites by inviting UN member nations to send their chemical and biological experts to see for themselves and "expose the lies of the US" that are being spread by the US along with Buttler's UN inspection team.

Iraq said that this invitation is "voluntary, and is in addition to the UN inspection team" present in Iraq, and conducting its work without any problems so far. The UN team itself will not be allowed into those sites.

This move follows Iraq's insistence on implementing UN security council resolutions which calls for immediate ending to the sanctions once Iraq meets the requirements of these resolutions.

This escalation in pressure on the UN inspection team to wrap up its work, a job that is seen as having been politicized by the US and team leader Richard Buttler. Buttler has been making strong statements about Iraqi refusal of cooperation is being seen by Iraqis as engaged along the US in a media campaign, where buttler is spending plenty of time doing public relations interviews as opposed to doing management work of the inspection team in a quite and objective manner until the results of the inspections are over.

Russia, has prevented the US two days ago, in an emergency meeting of the security council from adding words to a failed resolution that would have granted the inspection team additional power previously not available. This failure by the US was followed by a US change of tone, as its Arab allies have also indicated lack of desire to further escalate and provoke Iraq into actions that would require military response.

Iraq's foreign minister has stated today that "even six months is a long time for the UN to finish its work." This pressure by Iraq on the UN inspection team is a turn of event that is bound to change the political-public-relations dynamics of this war that is being fought in the court of public opinion.

It remains to be seen if other countries will take Iraq's offer, or whether the US will pressure any country willing to send inspectors, into not acting outside the United Nations apparatus, as a means to foil this latest gesture by Iraq.