Thursday, December 19, 2002

UNITED NATIONS — Iraq is in "material breach" of the U.N.'s order that it destroy its weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Thursday.

U.N. Ambassador John Negroponte said Iraq's 12,000-page arms declaration "is just one more act of deception in a history of lies from a defiant dictator."

He said that "material omissions" in the declaration "constitute another material breach."

The use of the term "material breach" is significant, because it can be used as justification to go to war. U.S. officials, however, have said that using the term at this stage does not signify that an attack is imminent.

"We informed the [Security] Council that we were deeply disappointed," Negroponte said after Chief U.N. Weapons Inspector Hans Blix delivered a preliminary briefing on its findings to the 15 council members.

"The Dec. 7 declaration clearly shows that Iraq has spurned its last opportunity.... The declaration fails to address scores of questions pending since 1998. It seeks to deceive when it says Iraq has no ongoing weapons of mass destruction programs."

Negroponte said Iraq was "falling back on the regime's practice of omissions, evasions and untruths," and said most of the 12,000 pages in its declaration were "simply rehash."

The ambassador spoke after Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, provided the Security Council with initial assessments of Iraq's declaration.

Iraq's deputy U.N. Ambassador Munim Al-Kadhe dismissed the U.S. charges as "baseless," saying: "I would like to confirm that the Iraqi declaration is complete and comprehensive." He said it can be verified on the ground by U.N. inspectors.

But Blix noted inconsistencies in the biological area, noting that the latest report did not include a table that Iraq submitted previously.

"This table has been omitted from the current declaration and the reasons for the omission need to be explained," Blix told the council, according to his briefing notes.

Also, he said Iraq was using chemical equipment destroyed by inspectors before they left in December 1998 and was developing a missile known as the Al Samoud with a range, in 13 flight tests, that exceeded the range permitted under U.N. resolutions.

ElBaradei said Iraq needed to provide answers and evidence regarding Iraq's recent purchase of aluminum tubes. The top U.N. nuclear inspector also found little new in the 12,000-page declaration.

The Bush administration is denouncing gaps, omissions and other major troubles with the Iraqi weapons declaration, setting the United States on a course to possible war with Saddam Hussein early next year.

Speaking after the meeting, both Blix and ElBaradei complained about the quality of Iraq's report.

"An opportunity was missed in the declaration to give a lot of evidence," Blix said. "They can still provide it orally, but it would have been better if it was in the declaration."

ElBaradei noted that the Iraqis have been opening doors for inspectors on the ground but said: "We have not gotten what we need in terms of additional evidence."

The comments were based on initial assessments, and both men said they would need more time to review the entire declaration.

In Baghdad, Iraqi officials said it was the United States, and not Iraq, that needed to worry about the assessments.

"It's the other party that's worried because there's nothing to pin on us," Iraqi general Amir al-Saadi said. He said it was natural U.N. experts would see little new in the declaration because Iraq hasn't restarted weapons programs in the time since their last declarations.

Assistant Secretary of State John Wolf and Negroponte met Blix on Tuesday to discuss gaps in the declaration, and Negroponte had another meeting with the chief inspector on Wednesday.

In preparing its declaration, Iraq had a list of outstanding questions prepared by the former U.N. inspection agency and by an international panel of experts. Inspectors left Baghdad in December 1998 and Iraq barred them from returning until last month.

The unanswered questions included: How much anthrax did Iraq actually produce, and was it all destroyed as Baghdad claims? Where are 550 artillery shells that it filled with mustard gas? Why were no remnants found of warheads for 50 long-range missiles that Iraq said it destroyed? What happened to all the deadly VX nerve agent that Iraq produced?

The report by former chief inspector Richard Butler listed biological agents Iraq produced including deadly botulinum toxin, anthrax and ricin; gangrene gas, which rots flesh; and aflatoxin, which causes liver cancer. Baghdad also said it did research on rotavirus, which causes diarrhea; and hemorrhage conjunctivitis virus, which effects the eyes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

-- Anonymous, December 19, 2002

Answers

Iraq Says Not Worried by Critics of Arms Dossier

By Huda Majeed Saleh

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq said on Thursday it was not worried by accusations that its weapons declaration to the United Nations (news - web sites) contained little new, and said it would give U.N. inspectors a list of scientists linked to arms programs.

"We are not worried. It's the other party (the United States and Britain) that is worried because there is nothing they can pin on us," presidential adviser Amir al-Saadi told a news conference. "There is nothing that they don't know about Iraq's weapons programs. They know everything."

U.S. and British officials have said the Iraqi dossier submitted on December 7 is full of holes -- a charge that Saadi said was aimed to pre-empt the assessment of weapons experts.

"We have heard only politicians talk like that," he added. "We have not heard any reputable weapons expert come and pick holes in our declaration."

He added that Iraq would hand over the list of scientists which U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix has requested by the end of the month.

"We will submit the list in time," he said, adding that the scientists would be named in order of seniority.

Asked if Iraq would let scientists be interviewed abroad, as authorized by last month's Security Council resolution 1441, he said: "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Saadi was speaking just before Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, in charge of nuclear arms inspections, gave the Council an initial view on Iraq's 12,000-page arms dossier.

ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told the council Iraq had provided clarifications, but no new documentation on its nuclear program.

He said the important issue now was verifying through inspections and intelligence Iraq's assertion that it had no nuclear weapons program.

"Iraq's current declaration of its nuclear program prior to 1991 contains no substantive changes from the FFCD (declaration) provided to the IAEA in 1998," ElBaradei said, according to a text of his statement made available to Reuters.

Iraq denies it has pursued any banned weapons programs since December 1998 when previous U.N. weapons inspectors were withdrawn ahead of a U.S.-British bombing campaign.

"We don't expect Blix and ElBaradei to say there is anything new," Saadi said, indicating that Iraq had nothing to add to previous information it had given on past programs.

U.N. experts resumed inspections on November 27 after Iraq decided to "deal with" a tough new Security Council resolution requiring it to disarm or face serious consequences.

General Hussam Mohamed Amin, the chief Iraqi official liaising with the inspectors, said the U.N. teams had visited 130 sites, of which 116 had previously been subject to U.N. monitoring, since they resumed work in Iraq.

-- Anonymous, December 19, 2002