Kofi Annan's success in securing a deal with Baghdad on weapons inspections was widely applauded.
Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz earlier said new weapons inspections would prove such claims "inaccurate".
Russia supports resuming weapons inspections in Iraq, but has opposed the use of military force.
France, Germany and Russia staunchly opposed the war, arguing for more weapons inspections rather than an invasion.
But he said Iraq could not accept the suggestion that UN soldiers be deployed to support the weapons inspections.
During that time he covered a bruising succession of crises between Iraq and the United Nations over weapons inspections.
The requirement of Iraq is clear and unchanged: Unfettered access for U.N. weapons inspections -- any time, any place, anywhere.
The full text of the resolution on Iraqi compiance with weapons inspections approved by all 15 members of the UN Security Council.
For confirmation, one need look no further than the situation in Iraq today after nearly a week of resumed UN weapons inspections.
Weapons inspections appear to be suspended, although monitoring of weapons sites continues.
The UN says this cannot be done until weapons inspections are complete.
The same reasoning was used in 1993 and 1998 to justify the American and British bombing of Iraq after disputes about weapons inspections.
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There has been much talk during the past 24 hours of UN resolutions, "coercive" weapons inspections and proceeding in a "sensible and measured" way against Saddam, as had been done over Iraq and even Kosovo before that.
Scott Ritter, once one of the most hawkish, and controversial of the arms inspectors, argued in the New York Times on August 16th that economic sanctions should be dropped in exchange for the resumption of meaningful weapons inspections.
Normally, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) carries out inspections when there is a suspicion of chemical weapons being used.
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Iraq has given an initial negative reaction to the appeal for strengthened inspections of its weapons programmes as an alternative to military action.
The convention permits or encourages inspections against any facility deemed capable of producing chemical weapons.
Iraq's UN ambassador, Nizar Hamdoon, has clashed with the head of UN's weapons inspectors, Richard Butler, over who should control the site inspections.
France has been careful not to take such an extreme position, but instead Mr Chirac has infuriated America by pushing for more time for the UN weapons inspectors in Iraq and for putting forward plans to back the inspections up with UN peacekeeping forces.
Instead, he played a coy game of denial with a wink and limited inspections apparently designed to give the impression that he had the weapons.
The American administration wants agreement from North Korea to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency of sites where it is suspected of keeping material for nuclear weapons.
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