Iraq, UN Fail Again to Agree on Arms Inspections
``We need assurances from the United Nations,'' Sabri said. ``We are the victims of illegal practices forced by the United States on the Security Council. We have lost 1.67 million citizens as a result of the sanctions the Security Council imposed in clear violation of international law.''

The weapons inspectors, whose return is a key requirement to lifting U.N. sanctions, left Iraq in December 1998 on the eve of a U.S.-British bombing raid and have not been allowed to return. Iraq maintains the inspectors were U.S. spies and that it has declared all its dangerous arms programs.

The most positive news to come out of the talks were arrangements made between Iraq and the United Nations to return tons of archives of state papers looted from Kuwait when Baghdad's troops occupied the emirate in August 1990.

Annan said a ``mechanism'' had been agreed on for the transfer of the property. Iraq has said it would return ``90 percent'' of the archives. Diplomats speculated Baghdad would keep papers on the founding of Kuwait as a state.

When the inspectors left in 1998, they were fairly certain most nuclear weapons materials had been destroyed along with most long-range ballistic missiles. But serious questions remained about accounting for Iraq's chemical and biological arms programs. However, they have stressed that their knowledge was not up to date.
Iraqhttp://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-iraq-un-talks.html