"Iraq is cooperating and the inspectors have been able to do their work in an unimpeded manner and I don't see an argument for military action now," said Annan

BAGHDAD, December 31 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan underlined Tuesday, December 31, that he sees no basis at present for the use of force against Iraq while former U.S. secretary of state Warren Christopher stressed that North Korea and terrorism were more dangerous.

Annan told Israeli radio that Baghdad was co-operating with U.N. weapons inspectors and that no military action should be considered at least until they had reported back to the Security Council, reported the BBC News Online.

Annan said he did not believe the use of military force against Baghdad was justified at this point.

"Iraq is cooperating and the inspectors have been able to do their work in an unimpeded manner and I don't see an argument for military action now," he said.

Annan said he expected the weapons inspectors to produce their first report on 27 January, although there might be an interim report before that.

His remarks came as one of the inspectors, who spoke to the Los Angeles Times daily on condition of anonymity, said that they currently had "zilch" to put in such a report.

"We haven't found an iota of concealed material yet," he averred.

BBC Middle East analyst Roger Hardy says a picture emerges from the inspector's remarks of a team of experts under intense pressure from Washington to produce results against Iraq.

But the inspector said even unlimited access was not enough.

"Even if they open all the doors in Iraq for us and keep them open 24 hours a day, we won't be able to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if it is not there," he said.

"We need help. We need information. We need intelligence reports if they exist."

Although a senior U.S. official told the LA Times that "high-quality" information on chemical and biological weapons was being passed on to the inspectors, the inspector said he had seen none of the said intelligence reports on alleged weapons of mass destruction.

He was skeptical about whether interviewing Iraqi scientists would produce any results.

"It's stupid to think that we can offer them to go abroad to testify," he said.

The inspector said he and his colleagues thought it is possible Iraq really had eliminated its banned materials.

Christopher questioned the wisdom of focusing on Iraq

"Threats from North Korea and from international terrorism are more imminent than those posed by Iraq," said Christopher

Former U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher questioned the wisdom of focusing on Iraq at the expense of more immediate perils like North Korea's known nuclear program and the continuing threat from al-Qaeda, while China stepped up its demands for a peaceful resolution of the stand-off, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Christopher urged U.S. President George W. Bush to put Iraq on the "back burner" in the light of the continuing threat from militants who killed three U.S. hospital workers in Yemen Monday, December 30, and the open warnings from North Korea that it intended to resume its nuclear program.

"Unless the president has been provided intelligence about Iraq's capacities that he has not shared or even hinted at in his public statements, the threats from North Korea and from international terrorism are more imminent than those posed by Iraq," said Christopher, the top U.S. diplomat from 1993 to 1997.

The United States "cannot mount a war against Iraq and still maintain the necessary policy focus on North Korea and international terrorism," said Christopher, contradicting Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's insistence that Washington was capable of fighting simultaneously on all three fronts.

Pyongyang's intention to reopen its nuclear plant put it six months away from having nuclear-weapons grade material to make several nuclear bombs, he said.

"Contrast this with Iraq. Not only is North Korea much further along than Iraq in building nuclear weapons but, by virtue of its longer-range missiles, it has a greater delivery capability.

"And then there is the war on terrorism. Deadly terrorist attacks continue around the globe, wreaking havoc in far-flung places such as Indonesia, Kenya, Jordan and Yemen."

Iraqi General Amer al-Saadi, meanwhile, invited U.N. chief inspector Hans Blix to Baghdad for talks "between the second and third week of January" to review the progress so far.

The proposed talks would aim at "reviewing cooperation between us during the past period and looking at ways of boosting that cooperation in the coming months," Saadi wrote, according to an Arabic text of his letter carried by official news agency IRNA.

Blix and Mohammed El-Baradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, are due to give the U.N. Security Council an update on the inspections on January 27.

Blix's spokesman Ewen Buchanan said Tuesday, "We are exploring dates that would be suitable, both for Blix and Mohammed El-Baradei and for the Iraqis."