"At some point, UN inspections will be an issue that needs to be addressed, but at this point, the US and coalition forces are still engaged in actions," White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan told agencies reporters in Crawford, Texas, where President George W. Bush is spending a long Easter weekend at his private ranch there.

Buchan was responding to remarks made by Hans Blix, chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, who has called for the return of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq to continue the inspection suspended on March 18 on the eve of the Iraq war.

Buchan seemed to suggest that the hunt for Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction be the business of the US-led forces at this stage.

"The United States and coalition forces continue to have military operations underway. Finding the weapons of mass destruction is one of their goals, and they are continuing to work towards that end," she said.

The spokeswoman's argument that inspectors can not return because the war is still under way is also contradicted by a disclosure made by a Pentagon official on Thursday that the United States has enlisted about 10 former UN weapons inspectors to help search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Approximately 10 former UN inspectors and personnel have been "applying their experience and expertise to the effort," the official spoke on the condition of anonymity, adding that some of them are already in Iraq while others will be arriving.

According to Buchan, Bush on Thursday placed a phone call from his ranch to Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and both leaders discussed Europe's role in postwar Iraq and the Middle East peace process.

(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2003)