Annan, Iraqi official open weapons inspections talks

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri, left, and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan met Thursday in New York.

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- In the first high-level talks on the subject in a year, Iraq's foreign minister and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan met Thursday to discuss the possible resumption of weapons inspections in Iraq.

Some observers, however, have suggested the talks are a ploy on Iraq's part to head off possible U.S. military action.

"There are some who believe that threats propelled them to demand the talks, but I really do not know," Annan said Thursday. "I know that regional leaders would want to see this issue settled peacefully, and they are all looking forward to a positive outcome."

President Bush named Iraq as part of an "axis of evil," along with North Korea and Iran, during his State of the Union address last month, fueling speculation that Iraq could soon be a target in the U.S. war on terrorism.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri is expected to ask the United Nations to lift sanctions placed upon Iraq at the end of the Persian Gulf War in 1991 that were contingent on the country eliminating its weapons of mass destruction.

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But weapons inspectors left Iraq near the end of 1998 and have not been allowed into the country since then.

Former U.N. chief weapons inspector Richard Butler questioned assertions by Iraqis that they have no weapons of mass destruction.

"The Iraqis have had three years to do such things, three years without inspections, and throughout that period, they have claimed that they have no weapons of mass destruction," Butler said. "If that is the truth, why not have inspectors come back and look and see and prove to the world that you don't have any of those weapons?"

On the eve of the talks, John Negroponte, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, presented to a Security Council committee slides allegedly showing how Iraqis have converted trucks from the U.N. oil-for-food program into missile launchers.

But Annan said he had heard indications that Iraq may be having a change of heart and may be ready to resume weapons inspections.

"I am getting implications from some sources -- governments close to Iraq, governments friendly with Iraq -- that Iraq is coming in that spirit, or saying there is some flexibility on the part of Iraq," Annan said.

Butler, however, said he expects Iraq to start "that same game they played with my team."

"What Iraq will do is say, 'OK, we're prepared to do that, but we want to know exactly what those inspections will look like, what will be the rules,' " he said, " ... a sort of shell game where through procedural and other devices they will seek to prevent inspections from being effective."