UNITED NATIONS AP Iraq failed to meet a U.N. target date to hand over a document singled out by U.S. President Bill Clinton which could help inspectors fill in gaps in Iraq's chemical weapons program a U.N. spokesman said Tuesday. Chief U.N. weapons inspector Richard Butler sent a letter to Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz last Friday asking for the Iraqi air force account of chemical munitions used from 1983-88 during the Iran-Iraq war to be turned over by Monday. ``We have not received the air force documents'' said Ewen Buchanan spokesman for the U.N. Special Commission known as UNSCOM which Butler heads. The commission is charged with verifying the destruction of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The U.N. Security Council won't lift oil sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait until inspectors report that Baghdad's chemical biological and nuclear arms and missiles have been destroyed. Weapons inspectors discovered the handwritten account of munitions disposed of during the war years in July but weren't allowed to remove it. The document compiled by an Iraqi officer was sealed and the Iraqis put it in a safe. Clinton singled out the air force document when he announced on Nov. 15 that the United States would hold off on airstrikes and give Baghdad a last chance to comply with U.N. resolutions demanding its disarmament. Two days later Butler sent the first of several letters to Aziz seeking papers the air force document personal diaries official memos and meeting minutes among others in one of the first tests of Iraq's pledge to resume full cooperation with inspectors. Iraq balked at giving the documents to UNSCOM saying they didn't exist or had no bearing on Butler's disarmament work. It also repeated conditions Iraq placed on viewing the air force document that ``relevant portions'' could only be seen in the presence of U.N. special envoy to Iraq Prakash Shah. Butler on Friday again asked Aziz to hand over the air force document to U.N. weapons inspectors in Baghdad by Monday noting that the Security Council supported his request for documents. Iraq has agreed with several requests from Butler that it deems legitimate in UNSCOM's quest for a declaration of its disarmament. But Baghdad has continued to defy UNSCOM on issues it feels it has already answered or are outside the mandate of U.N. inspectors. Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Nizar Hamdoon argued that forcing Baghdad to open its archives might jeopardize ``the national security of Iraq.'' Iraq has used the sovereignty argument before in trying to keep inspectors at bay and its sympathizers on the Security Council particularly Russia China and France have generally supported the position. Butler was flying to Paris on Tuesday night at the invitation of the French government and was expected to have a series of talks there on Wednesday Buchanan said. On Thursday Butler flies to Moscow at the invitation of the Russian government and was expected to have meetings Friday at the Foreign Ministry the spokesman said. Iraq's compliance with the weapons inspectors is expected to be high on the agenda. Butler must inform the Security Council whether Iraq has resumed full cooperation with UNSCOM before the council can launch a comprehensive review of Baghdad's compliance with council resolutions. He said he expects to make a determination in the next few weeks. The Iraqi government is hoping the review will lead to a quick lifting of sanctions but the United States insists there is no link. The United Nations meanwhile announced Tuesday that a U.N. committee had approved 10 contracts for Iraqi oil to be delivered over the next six months. They represent the first contracts approved since Iraq agreed last week to continue working with the the U.N. oil-for-food program which lets Baghdad sell limited amounts of oil to finance food and medicine for its people. APW19981201.0980.txt.body.html APW19981201.0072.txt.body.html