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 TIMELINE | WHERE THEY STAND | INSIDE UNSCOM | MAPS FORCES IN THE GULF | VIDEO | BIOWEAPONS EXPLAINER |
U.N. weapons chief questions U.S. about involvement in UNSCOM
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| Butler: "At no point have I given authorization to place any part of UNSCOM's operation under the control of the United States" | |
Web posted at: 8:00 p.m. EST (0100 GMT)
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Chief U.N. weapons inspector Richard Butler met the leading U.S. representative to the United Nations Friday to discuss allegations that Washington used Butler's inspection team in Iraq to gather intelligence for the United States.
Butler did not tell reporters the specifics of his meeting with acting U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Peter Burleigh, but he issued a statement denying newspaper reports that the United States took over a U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM) investigation into Iraq's covert weapons and intelligence networks.
"At no point have I given authorization to place any part of UNSCOM's operation under the control of the United States or any other supporting government," Butler said.
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Senior U.S. officials have acknowledged that American intelligence experts working with UNSCOM eavesdropped electronically on the Iraqi government's communications network. But they said the intelligence gathered served a pool of nations involved in UNSCOM, not only the United States.
"It was not unilateral," a U.S. official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. "It was done under UNSCOM's direction. It was focused solely on where the stuff was concealed."
However, the information gleaned from eavesdropping and spy planes helped indirectly in planning last month's U.S. and British missile strikes on Iraq, the official said.
Before his meeting with Burleigh, Butler met Thursday and Friday with senior U.S. officials, saying he wanted "real answers" about Washington's involvement in the inspections.
Butler denied his staff ever spied for the United States or Britain but said he wanted U.S. officials to clarify whether "some other collection efforts or piggybacking on us may have been taking place."
"We don't want our system misused in that way," he said.
Disclosures that the United States shared intelligence information with U.N. inspectors may make it tougher for the United Nations to re-establish a weapons inspection program in Iraq.
But Butler said he was hopeful the U.N. Security Council would resolve the issue.
"This flurry in the media about these allegations has of course caught people's attention," Butler said. "I think that has now been answered, and I hope we can now go back next week to the business of finding a solution to the current Iraq crisis.
"I rely on the Security Council and I am sure they will return to it next week," he said.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.