WASHINGTON, Oct 4: The Pentagon accused Iraq on Friday of hiding its reserves of chemical and biological weapons in anticipation of a UN arms inspection.

Pentagon spokeswoman, Victoria Clarke, told reporters in Washington that US defence experts would reveal more on Iraq’s attempts to stash away its weapons at a Pentagon briefing next week.

With UN arms inspections likely to begin within weeks, the Pentagon is preparing to detail Iraq’s efforts to dupe the world, Clarke said.

“Lies, deception and deceit are an active part of their offensive,” Clarke said. “They lie to their own people and they lie to the world. And people should consider that fact very, very carefully as they weigh their decisions on how to deal with Iraq ... There’s a very, very high threshold to overcome with their credibility.”

As the Senate takes up various resolutions with regard to US action in Iraq, Clarke said the Pentagon is not attempting to influence policy either way, but wants to ensure Congress and the United Nations to have all the information to make their decisions.

Congress has approved a resolution that gives President Bush broad powers to launch a military attack on Iraq.

In recent days, Pentagon officials, including Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, have briefed reporters on the worldwide threat posed by Iraq’s suspected weapons of mass destruction and its violations of the no-fly zones imposed after the Persian Gulf War.

Next week, officials will detail Iraq’s denial and deception operations — “operations that are very organized, that are very comprehensive and clearly intended to hide Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction,” Clarke said.

The Pentagon is conducting an information operations campaign on Iraq. On Thursday, an A-10 “Warthog” released 120,000 leaflets over Iraqi missile and radar sites. The leaflets warn gunners not to fire on or target coalition aircraft, overhead or they will face destruction.