UN weapons inspectors signalled an increase in the intensity of inspections and provoked Iraqi anger on 5 January, when they made a surprise visit to the complex housing Iraq's own arms monitoring directorate and left Baghdad's ambassador to the UN, Mohammed al-Douri, trapped in his office. 'It is unacceptable behaviour,' said Al-Douri. 'They can behave better and people should be allowed to go in and out in a more civilised way.' UN officials said that they were not visiting the National Monitoring Directorate itself but the premises of the Al-Basil Company also located within the complex. However, head of the directorate Hussam Mohammed Amin complained: 'They wanted to exercise their maximum intrusiveness, maximum hardness of implementation of Resolution 1441.'
Saddam Hussein also lashed out at inspectors in a television address to mark Army Day, saying that they were carrying out 'pure intelligence work,' under the guise of seeking weapons of mass destruction. Like the US, he said that there was still a chance of a peaceful outcome to the conflict, but urged: 'Otherwise, smite them [the aggressors] with your wrath.' The US and UK continue their military build-up in the Gulf ahead of potential military action, with the British press reporting on 5 January that 20,000 UK troops are due to be sent to the region and 7,000 reservists called up within the coming days. On 6 January, the huge US Navy hospital ship USNSF Comfort set sail from Baltimore, thought to be bound for Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
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