U.S. gives Iraq's weapons report an incomplete grade

U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq

The Bush administration plans to tell the U.N. Security Council that Iraq's declaration of its weapons programs falls far short of a full and complete report. The United States will present its information Thursday after U.N. weapons inspectors -- who are scouring Iraq for illegal weapons -- present their analysis to the U.N. Security Council, said Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Powell met with European Union officials in London and said that the U.S. had found "problems with [Iraq's] declaration -- gaps, omissions. And all of this is troublesome." British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw echoed Powell's concerns, saying there are "obvious omissions" in the report. So it appears to U.S. and British officials that Iraq has left a lot of blanks in its declaration to the U.N., which could be a violation of the latest U.N. resolution on the Gulf nation.

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President Bush held a regularly scheduled meeting of the National Security Council on Wednesday, and the main topic of discussion was how to respond to Iraq's declaration. The president's national security team recommended the United States declare that Iraq has violated the U.N. Security Council resolution by failing to fully account for its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs.

President Bush has said there would be "zero tolerance" if Iraq tries to deceive the international community. Bush also said that "delay and defiance [by Iraq] will invite the severest of consequences."

But White House officials say that the problems that the Bush administration sees with Iraq's report will not be used as an immediate trigger for war. Officials say that the White House will first consult with the U.N. Security Council. And officials add that there was no recommendation that the president use the term "material breach" at this time. Those words, in the language of the U.N. resolution, indicate the trigger for possible "serious consequences," which could include military action. "That doesn't mean there are not strong views that [the Iraqis} are in 'material breach,' but that is not the pressing issue at the moment," one official said.

White House officials said the administration's strategy was designed to give U.N. weapons inspectors more time to investigate Iraq, and the United States will argue that deficiencies in Iraq's report should result in more aggressive U.N. inspections of the country. This might include the possibility that the U.N. inspectors could take Iraqi scientists out of the country for interviews.

But the president's plan to hold off on a possible attack for now should not be seen as a sign that he has been bluffing on the threat against Iraq, say White House officials. "I assure you, this president does not bluff. When he said that [Iraqi President] Saddam Hussein must disarm, that he wants Saddam Hussein to disarm so peace can be preserved. ... It is not a bluff," said White House press secretary Ari Fleischer. Fleischer said that the report was Iraq's "last chance" to come clean about its weapons programs. But he added that President Bush still hopes Saddam Hussein will disarm peacefully.