By Judy Aita
Washington File U.N. Correspondent

United Nations -- Iraq formally replied to Security Council resolution 1441 on U.N. weapons inspections, indicating November 13 that it is "prepared to receive the inspectors within the assigned timetable" and will allow U.N. weapons experts to return "in accordance with the law."

The Security Council voted unanimously November 8 to toughen the U.N. weapons inspection regime and give Baghdad one "final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations" or "face serious consequences." Iraq had until November 15 to accept the resolution's demands.

In adopting resolution 1441, co-sponsored by the United States and the United Kingdom, the council strengthened the mandate of the U.N. weapons inspectors and removed loopholes that had allowed Iraq to destroy or spirit away documents during previous inspections that ended in 1998. The Council demanded that the weapons inspectors have immediate and unrestricted access to all locations in Iraq, including so-called presidential sites.

In a letter to Secretary General Kofi Annan, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Saberi Ahmed said that "we hereby inform you that we will deal with resolution 1441, despite its bad contents ... the important thing in this is trying to spare our people from any harm."

"But we will not forget, nor should others do, that safeguarding our people's dignity, its sovereignty and sublime values, is as a sacred duty in our leadership's and government's agenda," the foreign minister said.

Saberi told the secretary general that "through you, we reiterate the same words to the Security Council: send your inspectors to Iraq to make sure of this, and everyone will be sure ... that Iraq has not developed weapons of mass destruction."

He added that "the final word and reference will still be resolution number 687 with its obligations on both the secretary general and Iraq along with the code of conduct agreed upon in the agreement signed by the secretary general in New York on 16th September 2002 and the press statement of UNMOVIC Executive Chairman Hans Blix and IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei in Vienna."

The foreign minister told Annan that he intends to send another letter "in which I shall state our observations (on) the measures and procedures contained in Security Council Resolution 1441 that are contrary to international law, U.N. Charter, the facts already established and the measures contained in previous relevant resolutions of the Security Council."

Security Council President Wang Yingfan said that he informed the other council members of Iraq's response.

"Members of the Security Council welcomed the correct decision by the Iraqi Government and we would like to see resolution 1441 implemented fully and very effectively," Wang said.

However, the president said, only after reading the letter will the council members "have a full picture of the response."

U.N. weapons inspectors have been waiting for Baghdad's acceptance so they could begin returning to Iraq on November 18 to set up their offices.

Under other terms of the resolution, Iraq has until December 8 to give the United Nations a declaration of all its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs and ballistic missile systems that could carry the weapons to other countries.

The U.N. weapons experts then have until December 23 to begin inspections and will have to report to the Security Council six months later. According to the resolution, the inspectors are to immediately report any Iraqi infractions that constitute a "material breach" of its obligations.

The majority of Iraq's nine-page letter was devoted to attacking the United States and the United Kingdom for insisting on new rules for the inspectors.

Calling the United States and the United Kingdom "the gang of evil" in the letter, Saberi charged that the two Security Council members proposed the resolution to give the world something to talk about instead of following the work of the inspectors and seeing that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction.

The letter was delivered to senior U.N. officials by Iraq's U.N. ambassador, Mohammed Al-Douri. The secretary general was in Washington to receive an award from the United Nations Association of the United States and to meet with President Bush.

"We explained the whole Iraq question dealt with within the United Nations activities and tried to explain our position saying that Iraq does not have weapons of mass destruction so we are not worried about the inspectors when they will be back in the country," Al-Douri told journalists at U.N. headquarters.