United Nations: Iraq might have obtained legally the material that it put to use in building weapons of mass destruction from several companies in the US, Britain, France, Japan and Sweden, diplomats say.

The inference drawn from the declaration by Iraq on its status of WMD given to the UN is that Baghdad might have diverted material that it legally obtained for use other than it declared, they say.

Meanwhile, 10 non-permanent members of the 15-member Council were given the edited version of the more than 12,000-page declaration given by Iraq.

Diplomats said the abridged version, from which recipe for manufacturing weapons of mass destruction and the names of the companies from which Baghdad obtained materials, had been deleted, ran into some 3,500 pages.

Some other material, including annexes, would be given to them next week. The part of the declaration which related to Iraq's nuclear weapons programme and was vetted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and was delivered on compact discs.

Most of the members, who received copies on December 17, immediately sent the document, which weighed some five kilograms, to their capitals for analysis.

The five permanent veto-wielding members of the Council had got the unedited version about a week ago within 24 hours of Iraq submitting the document despite an earlier understanding in the Council that they too would get the same material as supplied to the non-permanent members, who are elected by the General Assembly for a two-year term.

Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix is expected to brief the Council on December 19 but it would be only a preliminary assessment. A detailed assessment is not expected until mid-January.

Even before Blix has given a preliminary assessment, the US and Britain have proclaimed that the declaration provided by Baghdad is full of loopholes. They have not demanded, but could under the Council resolution, that Iraq be declared in "material breach" which could attract military action against it.

PTI