U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says it is up to Saddam Hussein's regime to prove to U.N. weapons inspectors that Iraq does not posses chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons.

At a Pentagon briefing January 15, Rumsfeld said the joint team of inspectors from the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), which was created to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are looking for complete compliance from Baghdad. He said Iraq is known to be quite effective at denial and deception of its WMD programs.

"The president has repeatedly made clear -- and it bears repeating -- that the burden of proof is not on the United States, it's not on the United Nations or the international community to prove that Iraq has these weapons," he said. "The burden of proof is on the Iraqi regime to prove that it is disarming, and to show the inspectors where the weapons are."

U.N. weapons inspectors do not have the duty or ability to uncover weapons hidden in a vast country, Rumsfeld said. Their job is to confirm the evidence of voluntary and total disarmament cooperatively given by Iraq, he said.

Rumsfeld said it is Saddam Hussein's duty to provide that evidence as the U.N. Security Council had directed him to do; "thus far, he has been unwilling to do so."

Rumsfeld also said that the United States still hopes that Hussein's regime will reverse course and disarm peacefully and voluntarily.

"No one wants war. The choice between war and peace will not be made in Washington or, indeed, in New York; it will be made in Baghdad," he said. "And the decision is facing the Iraqi regime."

So far, Rumsfeld said, Iraq has defied some 16 U.N. resolutions without cost or consequence.

Rumsfeld also confirmed that U.S. diplomatic representatives have asked NATO for indirect military assistance in the event of military operations with Iraq. "The U.S. ambassador to NATO [Ambassador R. Nicholas Burns] did, in fact, recently go into the North Atlantic Council and say that here are a series of things that might or might not be appropriate, and opened that dialogue," Rumsfeld said. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz also held informal discussions about NATO support during a visit in December and will consult again January 17 during change of command ceremonies at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

"In any case, obviously we have to begin with the fact that the president has made no decision to use force, but it does take time to plan, and just as we're planning with individual countries it seemed appropriate, to the extent NATO wished to, to begin that planning process," he said.

Among the items being discussed are: using collective forces such as AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) E-3A surveillance aircraft, minesweepers or navy patrol ships; possibly protecting Turkey (a NATO member nation) from any counter-strikes by Iraq; using command facilities to plan efforts such as air or sea transport, air-to-air refueling aircraft, and even air cover for ground troops; and base and overflight rights from NATO allies, according to Rumsfeld at the Pentagon briefing and to U.S. Representative Douglas Bereuter, the Nebraska Republican who heads NATO's Parliamentary Assembly.

Air Force General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, pointedly warned Iraq not to use noncombatant civilians as human shields to try to prevent air strikes or other operations in the event of a war, because such actions would constitute war crimes.

"Iraq announced in late December that it will recruit and receive volunteers from Arab and Western countries to serve as human shields who would be deployed to protect sensitive sites," Myers said at the outset of the Pentagon briefing. "This is a deliberate recruitment of innocent civilians for the purpose of putting them in harm's way should a conflict occur. I'd like to note that it is illegal under the International Law of Armed Conflict to use noncombatants as a means of shielding potential targets, and Iraqi action to do so would not only violate this law, but be considered a war crime in any conflict."

Myers also announced that several hundred U.S. Army trainers would begin setting up a specialized training program at Taszar Air Base in Hungary for members of the Iraqi opposition who have volunteered for possible action in Iraq. "The use of Taszar Air Base emphasizes a rather long-standing relationship between the United States and Hungary," he said. It is expected that the Iraqi opposition members will be trained for support roles should military operations begin in Iraq, he said.

Earlier January 15, Rumsfeld and Myers appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee in a classified briefing on issues involving Iraq, North Korea and Afghanistan. Following their appearances, officials from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) were also to brief the Armed Services Committee.

Speaking to reporters after that meeting on Capitol Hill, Rumsfeld said that he and Myers were there to bring the Armed Services Committee up to date on actions and operations in these three areas of interest. He also praised President Bush's diplomatic measures in dealing with North Korea over its renewed nuclear program.

The president is "determined to follow a diplomatic path. He is attempting to internationalize it. It will end up in the United Nations as a result of the IAEA's assessment. And the fact that we're working with Japan and South Korea, as well as Russia and the People's Republic of China, I think is the proper thing to do," Rumsfeld said.