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Iraq I: Powell Criticizes WMD Declaration U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday criticized the accuracy of Iraq’s declaration of weapons of mass destruction programs, adding that Baghdad will have “no second chance” to correct it (see GSN, Dec. 16). “We said at the very beginning that we approached it with skepticism, and the information I have received so far is that that skepticism is well-founded,” Powell said. “There are problems with the declaration,” he added. The United States is sharing the flaws it has found in the declaration with weapons inspectors at the International Atomic Energy Agency and the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, as well as the other U.N. Security Council permanent members, Powell said. Officials will probably issue statements by the end of the week, he added. Inspectors will probably question Iraq about the apparent flaws, according to UNMOVIC chief Hans Blix. “We would not exclude that we would ask them questions” about gaps in the declaration, he told a recent news conference. The White House said yesterday that the declaration is Iraq’s “last chance” to publicly reveal its WMD programs. “I think it was abundantly plain, from the will of the United Nations, this was Iraq’s last chance to inform the world in an accurate, complete and full way what weapons of mass destruction they possessed,” White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said. Iraq has had 16 chances to reveal its WMD arsenals and programs, and should not be given any more, Fleischer said. “That was plain to all going into this one last final-chance process,” he added (Farley/Wright, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 17). Meanwhile, the remaining 10 nonpermanent Security Council members are expected to receive edited copies of the Iraqi WMD declaration today, according to BBC News. The four other permanent members — China, France, Russia and the United Kingdom — have been analyzing copies of the full declaration. Russia said today it would wait until being briefed by inspectors before making any judgment on Iraq’s compliance with U.N. resolutions. “It is not for Russia or for anybody else to make any judgments until we hear from UNMOVIC and the IAEA,” Russian U.N. Ambassador Sergey Lavrov said. Blix and IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei are scheduled to brief the Security Council on the declaration Thursday (BBC News, Dec. 17). Iraqi Scientists Amid debate on whether inspectors should interview scientists that have been involved in Iraqi WMD programs, a former Iraqi military worker suggested yesterday that there are risks involved in removing scientists from Iraq for such interviews. “Even if you take out their wives and kids, they have other relatives in Iraq — brothers, cousins, mothers, fathers. [Iraqi President] Saddam [Hussein] can have them all killed,” the former military worker, who used the name Ahmed for safety reasons, told the Washington Post. “You would have to be able to provide the scientist and everyone else full security. They would have to believe that Saddam could not get his hands on them,” he added. The scientists may also be a poor source of information, Ahmed said, adding that most of the programs are controlled by Iraq’s security service. “The scientists may not have anything to say. There is no new science in Iraq. The programs, if any, are in the hands of security people,” Ahmed said. “Take me. I could say what I worked on, but I could not tell you the state of any program that went on after I stopped working. Only a few people have that kind of information, and they are well-hidden,” he added (Daniel Williams, Washington Post, Dec. 17). IAEA The IAEA’s Clean Laboratory Unit yesterday received eight samples collected in Iraq, and the laboratory expects another 20 samples by the end of the week, agency spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said. Technicians plan to analyze the samples for unusual signs of radioactivity, according to the Associated Press. Initial analysis is expected to take up to three weeks before the results are sent to the IAEA headquarters for confirmation, Gwozdecky said. The samples are unlikely to reveal any evidence into Iraq’s efforts to develop nuclear or radiological weapons, said David Kay, a former chief U.N. nuclear inspector. “No one really expects the first round of samples to show anything,” Kay said. “The Iraqis have gotten much better at hiding than they were in the old days,” he added (William Kole, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Dec. 16). Inspections U.N. inspectors today visited several laboratories in Baghdad University’s medical and biotechnology departments, according to the Associated Press (Nadia Abou El-Magd, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Dec. 17). IAEA experts traveled to the northern Iraqi city of Mosul today, Iraqi officials said. Additional agency experts visited Radwan, about 10 miles west of Baghdad, according to Reuters. An UNMOVIC team also traveled to Mosul to visit a pharmaceutical factory there, Reuters reported. UNMOVIC chemical experts visited Dijla, northeast of Baghdad, and a UNMVOIC missile team inspected the al-Sawari company, owned by the Iraqi Industry Ministry, at Taji, on the northern outskirts of Baghdad (Reuters/MSNBC.com, Dec. 17). Yesterday, UNMOVIC teams visited the Saad General Co., in central Baghdad; the Taji Fiberglass production plant, part of the Thaat al-Sawary plant; the al-Nassir al-Atheen State Company; and they revisited the al-Amiryah Serum and Vaccine Institute, according to an IAEA press release. An IAEA team yesterday inspected the Iskanderya Foundry, part of the al-Hatten State Company and the Iskanderya State Enterprises for Mechanical Industries. A second IAEA team visited the Mussayib Army Munitions Depot, the al-Motaseem Factory and the al-Hatteen Establishment’s testing range (International Atomic Energy Agency release, Dec. 16). For further information, see:
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