With additional reporting by Neveen A. Salem, IOL Washington D.C.

WASHINGTON D.C., September 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Former United Nations weapons inspector Scott Ritter on Sunday called for an "honest broker mechanism" that would allow both an immediate resumption of arms inspections and ensure no deviation from Security Council resolutions.

The mechanism foresees the inspectors' "unconditional return and yet provides assurances to Iraq that unfettered access would only be applied to disarmament issues and not be used to infringe upon Iraq's sovereignty, dignity and national security," Ritter told Iraq's parliament in an address.

"There is a need for the confidence building mechanism for the monitoring of the interaction between weapons inspectors and Iraq to ensure that there are no deviations from the mandate of disarmament by the inspectors as well as obstruction of the work of the inspectors by Iraq," Ritter said, news agencies reported.

Ritter said he had had talks with "representatives from several countries about this concept and they have indicated their willingness to step forth and work with Iraq and the UN secretary general to serve as such an honest broker.

"To have credibility in Iraq and to avoid perceptions of pressures from the Security Council or its members, such an honest broker would have to come from outside the UN framework."

The mechanism would ensure that "for Iraq, the sins of the past would not be repeated," Ritter said in reference to the cloud of spying allegations that surrounded UNSCOM, the old verification group that was withdrawn from Iraq in December 1998 on the eve of a U.S.-British bombing campaign.

"In short, the honest broker mechanism allows the peaceful non-violent resolution for the current stand-off between the UN and Iraq in full accordance with the letter of the international law."

But Ritter added: "The only path towards peace Iraq should embrace is the one that begins by Iraq agreeing to the immediate and unconditional return of UN weapons inspections operating in full keeping with the mandate as set forth by existing UN Security Council resolutions.

"Nothing else will be acceptable. Iraq cannot attempt to link the return of the weapons inspectors with any other issues regardless of justification. Unconditional return, unfettered access, this is the only acceptable action."

Ritter, 40, a former captain in the U.S. Marines who was once dubbed a "cowboy" by UN staff and diplomats here for his intrusive inspection procedures, resigned from the United Nations in August 1998, citing a lack of UN and U.S. support for his tough disarmament methods.

However in recent years Ritter has become increasingly critical of U.S. policies towards Iraq. He has repeatedly stated that the sanctions have only succeeded in targeting Iraqi civilians while leaving the government virtually unharmed.

Over 1.5 million Iraqis, over half of whom are children have died as a direct result of the 11-year-long U.S.-led UN sanctions.

IslamOnline was told by UNICEF Baghdad that one of the organization’s main goals is to make sure Iraqi children live through the first year of life.

One of the main inspectors for the former UN disarmament commission, Ritter has called for the UN sanctions slapped on Baghdad after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait to be lifted in return for a resumption of weapons inspections.

In telephone conversations with IslamOnline, Ritter has stated that he does not believe Iraq currently has weapons of mass destruction and that he believes there needs to be a “qualitative” as opposed to “quantitative” assessment of Iraq’s weapons capabilities.

“[The] disarmament [of Iraq] took many years and was never easy. But by 1995, the weapons inspectors could account for over 90% of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction infrastructure as being eliminated. Based upon this success, I have stated clearly that Iraq no longer possesses a viable weapons of mass destruction capability, that Iraq has fundamentally - or qualitatively - disarmed,” Ritter told IslamOnline via telephone earlier.

He went on to state that it is difficult to determine what has transpired in Iraq since 1998, when the weapons inspectors were last in the country.

“…while we cannot account for all of Iraq's prohibited capabilities, we do know that what is unaccounted for does not constitute a meaningful weapons of mass destruction capability and that based upon this, Iraq no longer poses a threat - from the standpoint of weapons of mass destruction to its neighbors, the world, the U.S. or its own people.”