Washington, Nov 15: A key UN Weapons Inspector has said he would not run to the UN Security Council to report a minor, unintentional omission in Iraq's weapons of mass destruction disclosure, putting him at odds with US President George W. Bush's ''zero tolerance'' policy.

Under last week's security council resolution calling for new weapons inspections in Iraq, Baghdad has until Dec. 8 to declare programs and materiel that can be used to develop chemical, biological and nuclear arms and ballistic missiles.
The declaration is seen as a key test of whether Iraq will cooperate with UN Inspectors, who plan to arrive in Baghdad as early as Monday to prepare to scour the country for weapons of mass destruction for the first time in four years.
Bush has said he will not tolerate any Iraqi resistance to the inspections and he has repeatedly threatened US military action to force Iraq to give up its suspected weapons programs if President Saddam Hussein does not do so voluntarily.

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International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed Elbaradei, who will lead the UN teams searching for any Iraqi nuclear weapons programs, set a less stringent standard for gauging whether Iraq complies with the UN resolution.



''If there is minor omission and this is clearly not intentional we are not running to the security council to say that it's a material breach,'' Elbaradei told a Washington Conference on nonproliferation yesterday.



''If there is a pattern of lack of cooperation then we obviously have to report to the security council and the security council will decide (whether) that is a material breach,'' Elbaradei added.



Bureau Report