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The United Nations weapons inspection should be resumed in Iraq because it is the only way to eventually remove the international community's doubts about the alleged ownership of arms, French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said Monday.
"The best way to remove the doubts would be to let the UN inspectors go in and see what the situation is on the ground," said Alliot-Marie. She was being interviewed by French Inter radio at the occasion of France's national day.
The international community did not know whether the alleged arms existed, she said.
However, if the former Iraqi regime had had weapons of massive destruction, it would have used them during "the period of great difficulty," said the French minister, referring to the United States-led war against the regime of Saddam Hussein.
France was ready to help in the reconstruction of Iraq, but it would not take action unless within the UN framework, she added.
(Xinhua News Agency July 15, 2003)
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