Iraq: Butler is an agent of US policy

The United Nations secretary-general's envoy to Iraq, Prakash Shah, is to hold more talks today with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz.

Iraqi sources told ArabicNews.com that Aziz will raise with the international envoy their continuous complaints regarding the independence and the objectivity of UNSCOM weapons inspectors.

The sources added that Iraq will inform United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan through his special envoy of Iraq's opposition to the continuation of Richard Butler as UNSCOM chairman, calling on Annan to appoint a neutral party, "not an agent for the U.S.A."

The sources said that Iraq will ask for the formation of a neutral committee, whose headquarters must be away from New York and the US, so that the committee would not be under "American pressures."