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By Kevin McNicholas
Reuters
www.reuters.com
May 18, 2003

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MEDFORD, Mass. (Reuters) - The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency expressed frustration on Sunday over the U.S. government's failure to respond to his request that inspectors return to Iraq and finish their job.

Mohamed ElBaradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said his inspectors need to investigate reports of widespread looting at Iraq's nuclear facilities and possible radiation sickness among the civilian population.

"I am getting frustrated that we haven't had a response," ElBaradei told reporters before speaking to graduates of Tufts University's Fletcher School.

ElBaradei said he had been seeking permission for the past month from the State Department, but had not heard back.

"We read all these reports about material that's being looted, that's being stolen, and obviously a lot of radioactive sources that people have been exposed to," he said. "That obviously is a major worry for us."

Regardless of the authenticity of the reports of looting and radiation sickness, ElBaradei said U.N. nuclear inspectors must be allowed back into Iraq to finish their U.N. Security Council-mandated task.

"We are the ones with the most ... experience. We know whom to interview, we know what to do, and we will definitely be much more efficient completing that job than any coalition could," he said.

U.N. arms inspectors left Baghdad days before U.S.-led forces launched a war to disarm and topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The United States alleged Iraq was reviving its ambitious nuclear weapons program that IAEA inspectors had uncovered and destroyed before fleeing the country in 1998.

After returning to Iraq last November, inspectors from chief arms inspector Hans Blix's UNMOVIC agency found some banned missiles, but were unable to prove or disprove U.S. allegations Iraq had chemical or biological weapons.

The IAEA, which was in charge of hunting for atomic weapons, found no indications Iraq was rebuilding its nuclear arms program, as Washington charged.

ElBaradei also said his inspectors would report next month on their findings in neighboring Iran, which Washington has accused of violating the global pact aimed at stopping the spread of nuclear weapons.

He refused to discuss his agency's report, noting that IAEA inspectors were still in Iran. ((Writing by Greg Frost, editing by Stuart Doughty; Reuters Messaging: greg.frost@reuters.com)

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