Iraq handed on Saturday the United Nations a huge dossier on its military programs, denying that it has any banned weapons. also on Saturday, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein apologized to Kuwait for his 1990 invasion.
The White House said it would analyze Iraq's declaration on banned weapons for its "credibility and compliance," but expressed skepticism.
"The U.S. government will analyze this declaration with respect to its credibility and compliance," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said in a statement.
"We will continue to work with other countries to achieve the ultimate goal of protecting the peace by ending Saddam Hussein's pursuit and accumulation of weapons of mass destruction."
Bush said earlier on Saturday his administration would take some time to judge the declaration, but repeated that it would disarm Iraq by force if necessary.
the Iraqi report's thousands of pages, to be flown out Sunday to UN headquarters in New York and the UN nuclear agency in Vienna, will be combed through for months to come by UN analysts, intelligence agencies and diplomats.
Meanwhile, Kuwait rejected Saddam's apology from Saddam for Iraq's 1990-1991 occupation of the Gulf Arab state and accused him of using it as a pretext to incite attacks against U.S. troops currently training in Kuwait.
Kuwait's information minister, Sheikh Ahmed Fahd Al Ahmed Al Sabah, said Saddam should first apologize to his own people "for dragging them into wars that wasted their resources and apologize to the State of Kuwait by telling the truth and returning the prisoners."
Kuwait slammed a letter from Saddam, read out by Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf on Iraqi television, for trying to stir up unrest by urging Kuwaitis to struggle against foreign armies.
The Iraqi president's letter apologized for the occupation but blamed Kuwait's leadership for precipitating the invasion. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
