Blix Offers Iraq a "New Opportunity"
"The situation is tense at the moment but this is a new opportunity," AFP quoted Blix as telling reporters at Saddam International Airport.
"We are here to provide an inspection that is credible, inspection that is in the interest of Iraq and the interest of the world," he said after arriving at the head of an advance party of two dozen experts.
Blix, who heads the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and Mohamed Elbaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were to meet senior Iraqi officials and lay the groundwork for the start of inspections set for November 27.
"What we are coming with offers an opportunity and we hope we can take that opportunity together," Blix said after being greeted by his Iraqi counterpart, Brigadier Hossam Amin, director of the National Monitoring Directorate.
"We are here to do a job and we will do that professionally and I hope competently," Blix said.
Asked what level of cooperation he expected from Iraq, Blix answered: "full".
Elbaradei said: "We hope to be able to do our work with maximum credibility and obejectivity to be able to get positive results.
"The success of our mission depends on the full cooperation of Iraq and full transparency on its behalf," he added.
The inspectors have a mandate under UN Security Council Resolution 1441 to find the biological, chemical and nuclear weapons which Saddam's regime is suspected by the United States of developing.
If Iraq does not cooperate, it will face "severe consequences", expected to be military action led by the united states.