WASHINGTON, Nov 27: US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Tuesday that it was the threat of a possible US military action that forced Iraq to allow UN inspection of its defence facilities.

“We would not have inspectors going into Iraq today except for the single fact that there is a possibility of the use of force to require that that country disarm. If that were not there, there would be no inspectors getting ready to go into Iraq, let there be no doubt,” Rumsfeld told reporters at the Foreign Press Center.

Rumsfeld also told reporters their home countries should be investing far more on defence than they did at present, not just for their own security but for their economies.

“Money is a coward; money does not want to invest where there are uncertainties. And what we’ve got to do is create an environment that’s hospitable to education, and to learning, and to investment, and to the kinds of opportunities that the people of the world want, or their circumstance is going to be terrible.

“And without peace and stability in the world, that’s not possible. And there isn’t a country on the face of the earth that can’t afford to spend two three, four percent of their GDP (gross domestic product) to contribute to peace and stability in the world,” he said.