"If we can disarm Iraq through inspection and avoid a war, I think that would be in everybody's interests," said El-Baradei

WASHINGTON, January 7 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – U.N. arms inspectors "haven't seen a smoking gun, but we still have a lot of work to do before we come to the conclusion that Iraq is clean," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed El-Baradei told CNN Tuesday, January 7.

The inspectors still need "a few months" to complete their work in Iraq, he said, adding "it is too early to come to a conclusion."

He said that by January 27, "we will have a status report, but not a complete report or a final report," reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"I've been saying for a number of weeks now that the international community should bear with us," El-Baradei told ABC television.

"An inspection takes time," he said. "If we can disarm Iraq through inspection and avoid a war, I think that would be in everybody's interests."

El-Baradei added that U.N. weapons inspectors need more specific intelligence from Washington to aid in their probe.

The administration of President George W. Bush is "sharing information, but I think we need more information," he told ABC.

"We've been getting general information, but we need more specific information to act on," he said.

"We are in contact with the administration, and I hope in the next few weeks we'll be getting much more information for us to be able to zero in on any suspicious activities in Iraq," said El-Baradei.

On December 8, Iraq handed the new U.N. inspection mission an 11,807-page dossier confirming it has no weapons of mass destruction, in line with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441.

The main part of the Iraqi declaration covers Iraq's chemical and biological weapons activities and ballistic missiles with a range exceeding 150 kilometers (93 miles).

Another 2,100 pages on Iraq's nuclear program have been studied at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna.

Meanwhile, U.N. inspectors used helicopters Tuesday for the first time since resuming operations in November, as they stepped up the hunt for Iraq’s alleged banned arms.

Three white helicopters emblazoned with the U.N. logo took off from Al-Rashid air base in the southeastern outskirts of the capital accompanied by two Iraqi helicopters.

U.N. weapons inspectors arrive at a water treatment plant at Jurf al-Sakher

A dozen U.N. experts were aboard the aircraft, which took two hours to cover the 400 kilometers to the western town of Al-Qum close to the Syrian border.

Their target was a nearby processing plant at Al-Akachat, formerly used to extract uranium from ore quarried in the surrounding hills.

The team donned masks and protective clothing before heading into the plant, which is now used to process phosphates.

U.N. inspectors already toured the site once since resuming operations in Iraq on November 27 after a four-year hiatus.

But for the December 10 visit, they had to make the time-consuming road journey across the desert.

U.N. spokesman Hiro Ueki said a total of six helicopters were now available to the inspectors after being flown in in parts from the mission's rear base in Cyprus.

Flights had been due to start last week, but were postponed due to "technical reasons", both Ueki and Iraqi officials said.

The inspectors will use the aircraft both to speed them around the country for no-notice visits and to carry out aerial inspections of suspect sites.

Over the weekend, the inspectors opened a new regional office in the northern capital of Mosul and began inspections in Iraq's southern capital of Basra.

But the intensified activity has sparked the first howls of protest from Iraq after several weeks of painstaking cooperation.

On Sunday, January 5, a U.N. team sealed off the whole compound around the headquarters of Iraq's liaison body, the National Monitoring Authority, during an inspection of an adjacent building, leaving Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammed al-Duri, locked inside the building for more than six hours.

And on Monday, January 6, President Saddam Hussein lashed out at the U.N. mission in a keynote speech marking Armed Forces Day.

"Instead of searching for so-called weapons of mass destruction to expose the lies of the liars (U.S. and Britain), the inspection teams have been compiling lists of Iraqi scientists, asking questions with undeclared purposes, and inquiring about army camps and non-prohibited armament," Saddam said.

"All this, or at least most of it, is sheer intelligence activity."

As their colleagues took to the skies for the first time, four other U.N. teams drove four-wheel vehicles as they headed out on a 39th day of inspections, Iraqi information ministry officials said.

One team visited a plant at Jurf al-Sakhar, some 70 kilometers south of the capital, engaged in production of the Al-Sumud short-range missile which Iraq is still entitled to produce under U.N. resolutions.

Another team visited the nearby Al-Motasam factory, the Iraqi officials said.

A team of biologists toured the Saddam Cancer Research Center in the capital, while a team of nuclear experts visited a cement plant at Al-Kubaisa, 150 kilometers to its west, along with the nearby Al-Bakr airfield.