U.S. to Bird-Dog Iraq’s Nuclear Program : Mideast: Bush says Saddam Hussein is so untruthful the world cannot ever rely on his promises.

WASHINGTON —  President Bush, complaining that Saddam Hussein is so untruthful that the world cannot ever rely on his promises, vowed Wednesday to keep Iraq’s nuclear program under steady international surveillance to make sure the nation will never be able to produce a bomb.

Bush told a White House press conference that he remains deeply skeptical of Iraq’s latest pledge to cooperate with U.N.-supervised destruction of the country’s nuclear weapons potential. He said that he is determined to make sure Baghdad complies, whether Hussein wants to or not.

“I do feel that there’s still reason to believe that he is hiding (nuclear-related facilities) and has not come totally clean,” Bush said. “But we will be watching this very carefully.”

He said he is conferring with world leaders about ways to guarantee Iraq’s total compliance with the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the Persian Gulf War. In return for the cease-fire, the resolution requires the destruction of Iraq’s missile arsenal and of its capability to produce nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The President said he discussed the issue with Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney on Tuesday and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday and that he will contact additional leaders in the days to come.

“I am anticipating a unanimous view that we’ve got to keep our eyes wide open and not be lulled by some letter or some very belated offering from Saddam Hussein . . . to do that which he should have done a long time ago,” Bush said.

Iraq submitted a 29-page report to the United Nations on Sunday, pledging to cooperate with U.N. inspectors but asserting that his country’s nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Baghdad issued the report after first attempting to conceal nuclear-related equipment from the U.N. team.

“What we want to do is set up a mechanism so whenever there is . . . even a hint of his violation of these U.N. resolutions” there can be an effective inspection, Bush said.

“We must be satisfied, the international community must be satisfied, the U.N. must be satisfied, that that equipment has been destroyed,” he said.

Bush did not make clear whether the mechanism he discussed would be a new one or part of the existing nuclear supervision. As a signatory to the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, Iraq has long been obligated to submit its nuclear programs to the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency. But, U.S. officials now charge, the IAEA was unable to prevent Iraq from attempting to develop nuclear weapons.

“What we are trying to do is convince him (Hussein) that he has no feasible option but to comply,” a senior Administration official said.

Leonard S. Spector, an expert in nuclear proliferation on the staff of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, said that the U.N. resolution permits continuing surveillance of Iraq’s nuclear program. He said the United States could demand “to have a team stationed in Iraq that will be able to investigate any hint of any violation.”

“We are still in the testing phase here,” he said. “We have done a pretty good job so far of keeping the pressure on Saddam, but the game isn’t over yet.”

Bush admitted that it may never be possible to guarantee the total destruction of Iraq’s nuclear arms potential.

“We’re going to try to . . . assure the world that it is all gone,” Bush said. “But when you’re burying component parts off in the desert somewhere, or in somebody’s attic, or somebody’s basement in downtown Baghdad, if that’s what’s happening, it is pretty hard to certify that (the inspectors found everything).”