Amid statues, marble fountains and rose gardens, UN arms inspectors searched one of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's lavish palaces on Tuesday in the biggest test of Iraqi cooperation since inspections resumed last week for the first time in four years.

Inspections of palaces were often scenes of friction between Iraq and UN inspectors in the 1990s, but Tuesday's inspection of the al-Sojoud palace in Baghdad seemed to go smoothly.

Sticking to a policy of complying with the UN, Iraq said it would issue a statement on its arms programs on Saturday -- a day before the UN deadline -- and dismissed Washington's accusations that it possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Hussam Mohammed Amin, head of the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate, said: "Of course the declaration will have new elements but these new elements will not, shall we say, necessarily include a declaration of the presence of weapons of mass destruction.

"We are a country devoid of weapons of mass destruction."

US President George Bush repeated on Tuesday that Iraq did have banned weapons and had to disarm peacefully or face force. But a White House spokesman said guardedly US officials would take an "appropriate time" to respond to an Iraqi declaration, after studying what is likely to be a huge document in Arabic.

Washington won key support from Turkey on Tuesday. The Muslim NATO state said it would allow US warplanes to use its air bases in any war against Iraq, but reiterated insistence on a new UN resolution, authorizing the use of force against Iraq, if Baghdad did not comply with the arms inspections.

IRAQ SAYS IT FIRED ON WESTERN WARPLANES

In new reminders that a low-intensity conflict is already being waged in the region, Iraq said it opened fire at Western warplanes on Tuesday and Kuwait said an Iraqi boat shot at its coastguards but there were no serious casualties.

Tuesday's palace search began with an inspector telling guards: "Open the gate, we want to come in." A guard replied: "We can't, we are waiting for orders." The inspector protested and minutes later the gates opened.

"Our inspectors were able to inspect every corner of the presidential palace, and even though the site is large they inspected every room," said Yashuhiro Ueki, spokesman in Iraq for the arms inspection body UNMOVIC.

Iraq questioned the motives of the inspectors -- charged by the UN Security Council to hunt down any nuclear, chemical and biological weapons -- in carrying out the palace search.

"Was this visit really to search for banned weapons or for other aims?" the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Is this the start of the bad behavior that the United States, Britain and the Zionist entity (Israel) want to impose on the United Nations?"

Journalists were taken along a palm-lined drive to be given a peek inside the grandiose palace grounds after the UN experts and their Iraqi escorts left.

Statuary stood at the entrance and in a domed courtyard. Inside the palace there were gold-colored elevator doors.

The palace was bombed by Western planes after inspectors pulled out of Iraq in 1998, accusing authorities of obstructing their work. A resolution passed by the UN Security Council last month set tough guidelines for new inspections, abolishing special arrangements for the palaces.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Tuesday that Iraqi cooperation had been good so far and praised the inspectors for using their authority to visit the palace.

"There is a good indication that the Iraqis are cooperating but this is only the beginning," he said.

BUSH WARNS SADDAM: DISARM OR FACE WAR

Bush told cheering supporters at a political rally: "(Saddam) says he doesn't have weapons of mass destruction. He's got 'em. He's not only got 'em he's used them.

"The choice is his. And if he does not disarm, the United States of America will lead a coalition and disarm him, in the name of peace."

Turkey's decision to open its air bases in the event of a US-led war on Baghdad would put it in the frontline.

The United States already uses Turkish air bases to patrol a so-called "no-fly" zone over northern Iraq that US and British planes have enforced since the end of the 1991 Gulf Wa.

Turkish Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis said Ankara still hoped the standoff with Iraq could be resolved peacefully.

"But if it comes to (war), then of course we will cooperate with the United States because it is a big ally and we have excellent relations with the United States," Yakis said.

The United States stalled renewal of a UN oil-for-food humanitarian program for Iraq until the Security Council agreed to expand a list of goods that may be banned for export to Baghdad.

Washington proposed the humanitarian program be extended for two weeks to allow time to renegotiate the list, a move opposed by the other 14 council members favoring extension for the usual six months.

Among items Washington wants banned is an antidote to nerve gas, which it fears could be used to protect Saddam's forces if he resorts to such weapons in a war.

(China Daily December 4, 2002)