International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors are expected to return to Iraq by the end of the week to evaluate the security of radioactive material stored at the Tuwaitha complex, the main site in Iraq’s former nuclear program, an agency spokesman said yesterday (see GSN, May 26).

IAEA inspectors will “determine what is missing and what it will take to recapture that material and ultimately repackage it and reseal it and secure the facility,” agency spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said.  “The mission is limited to verifying Iraq’s safeguards obligations,” he said.

The United States limited the scope of the IAEA’s planned mission to Iraq, Gwozdecky said.

“The IAEA was informed by the United States that at this stage, the occupying powers are responsible for the health and safety of the Iraqi people, including nuclear health and safety issues,” Gwozdecky said.  “The IAEA stands ready, if requested, to provide assistance in these areas,” he added (Susanna Loof, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, May 26).

Suspicious Finds

Meanwhile, British military experts have learned through interrogations with captured Iraqi officials about Iraq’s efforts to develop a ballistic missile with a range of more than 600 miles, according to the London Sunday Telegraph.

The missile was being developed by the Iraqi Military Industrialization Commission, according to the Telegraph.  While Iraqi officials have said the missile was only designed to be equipped with a conventional warhead, British experts have said it could have been modified to carry biological or chemical weapons. 

A senior Iraqi engineer who worked at the commission said the missile had entered the development stage just prior to the recent war.  “If it had not been for the war, development would have been completed within a year,” the engineer said.

Former U.N. nuclear inspector David Kay said Iraq’s plans to develop the missile proved that ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein never intended to comply with U.N. disarmament requirements.

“This is the smoking gun we have been looking for,” Kay said.  “We have known all along that Saddam was desperate to develop a delivery system for his mass destruction weapons, and this missile would undoubtedly have given him that capability,” he added (London Sunday Telegraph, May 25).

A team of international experts is traveling to Iraq to inspect two recovered trailers that the United States suspects were used as mobile biological weapons laboratories, a top U.S. military commander said yesterday (see GSN, May 21; Associated Press/Los Angeles Times, May 27).

It is only “a matter of time” before U.S. forces in Iraq find Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said yesterday.

“Given the number of prisoners now that we’re interrogating, I’m confident that we’re going to find weapons of mass destruction,” Myers said (USA Today, May 27).

Intelligence

U.S. weapons experts have begun using locally gathered intelligence, instead of what is seen as outdated U.S. information, in their efforts to find evidence of Iraqi WMD programs, according to the Associated Press.

Weapons experts have begun collecting their own information through interviews with Iraqi scientists and factory workers, according to AP.  U.S. military officials hope the new approach will improve the quality of gathered information.

“The frustration level is increasing as we keep getting constant negative results,” said Lt. Col. Keith Harrington.  “Intelligence needs to play a main role here,” he said (Dafna Linzer, Associated Press/San Diego Union-Tribune, May 26).

Some coalition experts, however, have complained about the quality of information taken from Iraqi sources, according to the Associated Press.

“The human intelligence has been massively problematic,” said Lance Corp. David Reed, a member of a two-man British team that operates a ground-penetrating radar system (Dafna Linzer, Associated Press, May 27).

In an effort to increase Iraqi cooperation with coalition forces searching for weapons of mass destruction, the coalition’s Baghdad radio station announced today rewards for any new information that could aid the search.

“Give the coalition any information on mobile laboratories … help in preserving the safety of the Iraqi people,” the announcement said.  “If you bring forward any information, the coalition will keep your identity secret and provide you with protection if you want it.  You will receive a reward,” it said (Agence France-Presse, May 27).

Bush Exaggerated WMD Threat, Senator Says

U.S. Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.) said Sunday that U.S. President George W. Bush overstated the threat posed by Iraqi weapons of mass destruction prior to the war.

“I do think that we hyped nuclear, we hyped al-Qaeda, we hyped the ability to disperse and use these weapons,” Biden said on NBC’s Meet the Press.

Such exaggerations were unnecessary because it was obvious Iraq had violated U.N. resolutions, Biden said, while acknowledging that exaggeration is a tactic “that tends to be done by all presidents” who push for war.

“I think a lot of the hype here is a serious, serious, serious mistake and it hurts our credibility,” he said (James Gordon Meek, New York Daily News, May 26).

Chalabi Apparent Source of New York Times Reporter’s Stories

A primary source for New York Times reporter Judith Miller’s articles concerning the U.S. search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq appears to be Ahmad Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress opposition group, according to an internal Times e-mail obtained by the Washington Post (see GSN, April 21).

Miller’s connection to Chalabi came to light when John Burns, the Times’ Baghdad bureau chief, criticized Miller for writing a piece earlier this month on Chalabi without his approval.  In an e-mail, Miller defended her actions, noting her long association with Chalabi, and revealed that he was her primary source for her WMD-related coverage.

“I’ve been covering Chalabi for about 10 years, and have done most of the stories about him for our paper, including the long takeout we recently did on him.  He has provided most of the front-page exclusives on WMD to our paper,” Miller said in her reply to Burns.

Miller refused to comment on the e-mails obtained by the Post.  Andrew Rosenthal, Times assistant managing editor for foreign news, said it is a “pretty slippery slope” to publish reporters’ private e-mails and to reveal any of their possibly confidential sources.

Rosenthal defended Miller’s connections to Chalabi.  “If you were in Iraq and weren’t talking to Chalabi, I’d wonder if you were doing your job,” he said (Howard Kurtz, Washington Post, May 26).

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