British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the U.N. weapons inspectors who arrived in Iraq are Saddam Hussein's last chance to give up weapons of mass destruction.
Mr. Straw said he is certain that Iraq will be disarmed. But he said it is up to Saddam Hussein to decide whether his country will be disarmed peacefully or by other means.
Mr. Straw said the Iraqi leader is not to be trusted. But he told reporters that Saddam Hussein does have common sense, an instinct for survival, and realizes what the consequences will be if he fails to comply with the U.N. Security Council resolution for inspections of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
Mr. Straw said the only reason the inspectors are in Iraq is that the U.N. resolution is backed up, by what he called the "credible threat of force" issued by the United States and Britain.
Iraq has vowed to cooperate with the inspectors. Iraqi officials have said they are doing so to deny the United States a pretext to attack.
Mr. Straw later told the British Broadcasting Corporation that this is Saddam Hussein's final opportunity to comply with international law and the rule of the Security Council.