Experts concerned about Iraqi weapons program

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A panel of experts on Iraq's presumed weapons of mass destruction program expressed skepticism Friday that any new team of international inspectors would be able to disarm the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

"There is no alternative to the replacement of Saddam," said David Kay, a former senior United Nations arms inspector and an advocate of prompt military action against Iraq.

"I do not think time is on our side in this regard," Kay said. "I'm convinced that if Saddam believes we're going in to end his rule, he will use WMD. I do not see any advantage to giving him additional time to prepare for that use of WMD against U.S. troops."

Former biological weapons inspector Richard Spertzel agreed, warning that "should Iraq use a biological agent, it may be impossible to find a smoking gun that would implicate" Baghdad.

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An Iraqi delegation and the United Nations will hold one-day talks in New York on March 7 to discuss implementing existing Security Council resolutions and the prospect that weapons inspectors could return to Iraq, U.N. officials said last week. The last round of talks between Iraq and the United Nations ended in early 2000 with no apparent progress.

Diplomats say Iraq is concerned it may be attacked by the United States as part of the war on terrorism. Some analysts think Baghdad is hoping to weaken international support for the U.S. campaign by attempting to reopen a dialogue with the United Nations.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave cautious support Thursday to U.S. President George W. Bush's stance that Iraq formed an "axis of evil" with Iran and North Korea, but he did not mention military action against the regime.

"Saddam Hussein's regime is a regime that is deeply repressive to its people and is a real danger to the region," Blair told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from London.

"Heavens above, he used chemical weapons against his own people. So it is an issue, and we have got to look at it. But we will look at it in a rational and calm way, as we have for the other issues.

"The accumulation of weapons of mass destruction by Iraq poses a threat, a threat not just to the region but to the wider world, and I think George Bush was absolutely right to raise it," Blair added.

Hussein has denied that Iraq is creating weapons of mass destruction.

Bush raised the issue in his State of the Union address, saying Iraq was hostile towards America and continued to support terror.

"The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax and nerve gas and nuclear weapons for over a decade," he said. "This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens, leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children."

U.N. weapons inspectors have not been in Iraq since December 1998. Iraq contends the United States is violating international law by creating no-fly zones and trampling on its sovereignty by insisting on inspectors with intrusive powers.

Former U.S.Undersecretary of State Robert Einhorn said intelligence officials he has spoken to favor a return of arms inspectors to Iraq, but see it as a short-term move.

"At their very best, the inspectors can complicate and restrain and slow down Iraq's clandestine efforts, and give us a better picture of what is going on in Iraq than we have to today," Einhorn said. "They cannot compel Iraqi compliance and therefore not put an end to the WMD threat posed by Iraq."

CNN National Security Correspondent David Ensor contributed to this report.