"We know there are Iraqi scientists, soldiers and officials of the Baath party who have information about the weapons of mass destruction produced by the old regime," coalition radio said.

"Even if you think the information is worthless, or you believe that the coalition already knows whatever information you have, don't hesitate to come forward."

The plea for new information came as the coalition shifted the focus of its search for Saddam's alleged arsenal after an intensive search of 320 suspect sites identified by US intelligence before the war turned up nothing.

The new Iraq Survey Group, headed by senior US Defence Intelligence Agency official Major General Keith Dayton, is to set aside the pre-war lists and pursue new leads culled from interviews of top Iraqi officials or analysis of secret documents captured since the US-led occupation.

The move comes as British and US lawmakers have launched separate investigations into whether intelligence information was distorted in order to justify the war on Iraq.

"The goal is to put all the pieces together in what is appearing to be a very complex jigsaw puzzle," Dayton said before leaving the United States.

The US-led coalition has long targeted Iraqi scientists as the most likely source of information about any clandestine weapons programmes.

Both Washington and London piled pressure on the pre-war UN weapons inspections teams to use their powers to whisk Iraqi scientists abroad so that they could be interviewed without intimidation from Saddam.

But the privilege was never invoked and the United Nations struggled to persuade scientists to present themselves for interview without a government minder.

"The coalition knows that many of you were forced to work for this programme. That's why you should not be afraid," Sunday's broadcast said.

"You will be well treated if you provide this information which is very important for the protection of you and your families.

"If you can contribute to our finding the weapons, you will be rewarded."

But Iraqi scientists were dismissive of the new broadcast, saying it would be no more successful in finding banned weapons than the previous ones aired by the coalition in the first weeks after Saddam fell on April 9.

"They believe that Iraqis are ready to sell out their country for money -- that's why they are offering 200,000 dollars for information on WMDs -- but there are no weapons," said Salia al-Alagawi, physics professor at Baghdad technical university.

The deputy head of the university's chemistry department, Jamal Manaa, insisted the United States was only pouring new resources into the hunt in a bid to justify its continuing occupation.

"They are making a hullabaloo about looking but there is no evidence that Iraq still had weapons of mass destruction -- it was just a lie, a pretext for going to war," he said.

WAR.WIRE