Iraq inspections offer rejected

U.N. weapons inspectors left Iraq in 1998

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The speaker of the Iraqi National Assembly has invited U.S. politicians and experts to travel to Iraq to examine sites where they believe weapons of mass destruction are being produced.

The White House was not impressed by the move, reiterating its call for "action" by Iraq, not "discussion."

The invitation comes as the Bush administration and Congress discuss the feasibility of attacking Iraq and toppling President Saddam Hussein's regime.

Sadoun Hammadi, the speaker of the assembly, sent a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate and members of Congress, inviting them to visit for a three-week period.

"I hereby extend on behalf of the National Assembly of Iraq an invitation for a delegation to visit Iraq comprising whatever number of congressmen you see fit accompanied by experts in the fields you deem relevant to the visit, i.e., chemical, biological, and nuclear."

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He said the delegation would be given "every facility needed" to inspect plants or installations that the United States believes are involved in the manufacture of chemical and biological weapons or the construction of nuclear weapons.

"Come to look at the places you think" are involved in those activities, Hammadi said.

Asked about the Iraqi invitation to congressional leaders, a senior administration official told CNN: "Our position with respect to inspections is well known.

"What's needed is not discussion but action on the part of the regime of Baghdad to allow anytime, anywhere, anyplace, unfettered access to inspections."

The speaker said many of the tensions between Iraq and the United States were because of a lack of communication since 1990. He appealed to the members to Congress to "see facts on the ground as they truly are."

The senior administration official also said the ultimate issue is not inspections, but making sure Iraq adheres to U.N. obligations and rids the country of weapons of mass destruction.

"The goal of inspections is disarmament," the official said.

Over the weekend, after a GOP fund-raiser in Maine, President Bush signaled U.S. policy towards Iraq would not be altered by any moves by the Hussein regime.

"I'm a patient man," Bush said.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday he was still not ready to consider Iraq's offer of talks with weapons experts -- unless Iraq adhered to U.N. Security Council requirements on inspections. (Full story)

Meanwhile, coalition aircraft monitoring Iraq's southern no-fly zone pounded an Iraqi air defence command and control facility with precision-guided weapons in response to hostile Iraqi acts, the U.S. Central Command said on Monday.

Iraq gave no immediate response.

The last coalition strike in Iraq's southern no-fly zone was against a military communications facility on July 28.

During the year, there have been 70 separate incidents of Iraqi surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery fire directed against coalition aircraft, Central Command said. (Full story)

-- Correspondent Rym Brahimi and White House Correspondent Kelly Wallace contributed to this report