Baghdad, Iraq ? A top adviser to President Saddam Hussein challenged Washington on Sunday to “come up” with evidence it claims to have that Baghdad still has weapons of mass destruction.

At the same time, Lt. Gen. Amer al-Saadi told reporters that a huge, new Iraqi arms declaration does not offer fresh Iraqi evidence to allay U.N. suspicions that Baghdad may retain weapons in two crucial areas: VX nerve agents and biological weapons.

Al-Saadi said the report documents the weapons programs that Baghdad has acknowledged pursuing until 1991 – including its drive to develop a nuclear weapon. “It’s for the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) to judge how close we were,” he said.

The report also details the chemical, biological and nuclear programs since 1991, which Baghdad contends were peaceful.

He did speak of sensitive evidence in another area, however: information about foreign help to Iraq’s past weapons programs. If released, it will “embarrass” some countries and their companies, he said.

The general, the former military production chief, is now Saddam’s science adviser.

Al-Saadi was asked whether Iraq, in the declaration, presents any new evidence in its own defense, in the area of VX nerve agent, for example.

In the 1990s, U.N. inspectors found that 1.5 tons of the lethal chemical weapon, produced in the 1980s by Iraq, was not fully accounted for. They found evidence VX had been dumped where the Iraqis said it was, but they could not verify the 1.5-ton amount. Al-Saadi said “some first-class evidence” was given to inspectors in the 1990s, but they weren’t satisfied “because they were mainly led by personnel from the United States and Britain.”

Al-Saadi insisted that “nothing of the previous program exists,” referring to VX.

As for biological weapons, earlier U.N. inspectors said in 1999 that Iraqi documentation left huge gaps in verification. Al-Saadi said Sunday that further evidence does not exist.

Al-Saadi’s comment was brief on companies implicated in Iraq’s drive for doomsday weapons in the 1980s. He said only, “There are things that will embarrass countries and companies,” and that the world should not be surprised, since it required Iraq to report such information.

Information about foreign business involvement in Iraq’s weapons programs could lead to prosecutions under export-control laws or deeply embarrass governments that have urged restraint in dealing with Iraq.