Washington: US President George W Bush wants Iraq to readmit UN arms inspectors even though they are not a "foolproof" way to ensure Baghdad no longer has weapons of mass destruction, the White House said September 3.

"The President believes that the weapons inspectors need to be let back in. He's said it many times," Bush chief spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters quizzing him on an apparent rift among top US officials on the matter.

But Fleischer emphasised that the return of the inspectors- withdrawn on the event of US-British strikes on Iraq in 1998- would not end US suspicions that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has or is developing chemical, nuclear or biological weapons, one reason Washington says it wants to topple him.

"The weapons inspectors are one way to try to ascertain that information. It's not a sure-fire way. It's not a foolproof way," said Fleischer.

Top US officials have said they support the inspectors return while emphasising that Baghdad should not expect a change in Washington's two-decades-old policy of "regime change" as a result.

"The point is to try to give the international community as much information as is possible about whether or not Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction," Fleischer said.