The United States and the United Kingdom are preparing to submit a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council “in the next few working days” that would authorize military action against Iraq and set a deadline for the council to vote on it, U.S. and British officials said yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 19).
U.S. officials said there would be three key elements of the draft resolution: that Iraq is in “material breach” of its disarmament obligations, that it failed to comply with new inspections, placing it in further material breach and that U.N. members must move forward with the “serious consequences” noted in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441, which established the current inspections regime.
The draft resolution would also contain a deadline for Iraq’s compliance with inspections, to force the council into setting a limit to inspections, British U.N. Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock said.
The tone and content of the draft resolution are still not “finally settled” and U.S. President George W. Bush plans to work with U.S. allies to create a resolution that would be acceptable to council members, the White House said yesterday. The goal is a “straightforward, simple resolution that enforces Resolution 1441,” White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said (Farley/Wright, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 20).
To avoid a possible Security Council veto, the resolution is not expected to contain a specific call for military action against Iraq, sources said. The United States and the United Kingdom have claimed, however, that a finding that Iraq was in material breach of U.N. resolutions would allow for such an attack, according to the Washington Post.
The two countries will probably not formally introduce the resolution to the Security Council until at least one more briefing by U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix, sources said
Among Security Council members, including three of the permanent veto-wielding members, there still remains opposition to the use of force against Iraq, according to the Post. “We will do whatever is possible ... to maintain the equilibrium as it is now,” said a French official, whose country has led the resistance to the U.S. calls for military action. “There is a strong majority that is not yet ready to vote in favor” of a new resolution, the official added (Karen DeYoung, Washington Post, Feb. 20).
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin agreed via telephone yesterday that the inspections process should be continued indefinitely, adding support to France’s anti-war stance, according to the Los Angeles Times (Farley/Wright, Los Angeles Times).
Representatives from the 10 nonpermanent council members expressed concerns over an anticipated U.S.-British effort to obtain their support for a new resolution.
“Under such pressure, we might have to bend. We have a different kind of vulnerability” than the permanent council members, said an ambassador from a nonpermanent member country. “There is pressure on all of us to deliver a compromise that is not really a compromise,” the ambassador added (DeYoung, Washington Post).
Several of the nonpermanent members have said they would abstain on a vote over a new resolution if the five permanent members could not agree on some sort of compromise.
“We don’t have veto power,” said Angola’s U.N. Ambassador, Ismael Gaspar Martins. “But we do have a power. We do have a voice,” he added (Farley/Wright, Los Angeles Times).
Open Security Council Session Ends With Mixed Conclusions
The majority of delegates who spoke over the two-day debate Security Council debate on Iraq that ended yesterday clearly felt the inspection regime was working and that inspectors needed more time. On the other hand, the argument by the United States and United Kingdom that inspections have run their course is gaining ground, although most countries supporting this view stopped short of calling for the use of force.
German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger, the council’s president for February, closed the debate yesterday, saying the session showed that “an overwhelming majority of delegations has made it clear that we are united in the goal of disarming Iraq in a peaceful way.”
Celestino Migliore, the observer for the Holy See, told the council, “The vast majority of the international community is calling for a diplomatic resolution. … That call should not be ignored.”
Canada seems to be moving toward the U.S.-British position that Iraq is not cooperating enough with the weapons inspectors and that a second resolution following up on Resolution 1441 is needed that would give Iraq a short time period to comply or face military action.
Canadian Ambassador Paul Heinbecker said yesterday that more time and a strengthened inspection regime “could be useful, but only if Iraq decides to cooperate fully, actively and transparently, beginning now.” The council should set an “early deadline for Iraqi compliance,” he added. “Recent cooperation from Baghdad has come only in response to intense international pressure, including the deliberate and useful buildup of U.S. and U.K. military forces in the region. The job of the inspectors is to verify Iraq’s disarmament, not to search out weapons of mass destruction on their own,” said Heinbecker.
Countries expressing at least some support for this position included Albania, Georgia, Macedonia, and Nicaragua. South Korean Ambassador Sun Joun-yung said Iraq’s “cooperation on substance has not been enough to resolve existing questions of disarmament. It is disturbing to note that many proscribed weapons and items still remain unaccounted for.” He added, “It is clear that Iraq is not yet in full compliance with the relevant Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 1441.”
The majority of countries said the inspection route was producing results, even as they faulted Iraq for not fully cooperating with the inspectors.
Migliore said that while the United Nations still has “a wealth of peaceful tools provided by international law, to resort to force would not be a just one.” He said the inspections regime “remains an effective path that could lead to a building of a consensus which … would make it almost impossible for any government to act otherwise, without risking international isolation.” War, he added, “is the very last option and in accordance with very strict conditions.”
Deputy Swiss Ambassador Pierre Helg told the meeting, “The resort to force can only be envisaged after all peaceful means to find a solution to the crisis have been exhausted.” He said Switzerland supports strengthening the inspection system “and if that option fails, we recall that in any case the use of force must be authorized by a Security Council resolution.”
Liechtenstein’s Ambassador Christian Wenaweser said, “We share the view that the use of force would need to be authorized by the council in a separate resolution and that the reports submitted by UNMOVIC [U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission] and the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] do not lead to the conclusion that such a decision is warranted at this time.”
Speaking for Malaysia, Zainuddin Yahya said, “We would urge Iraq not to lose this window of opportunity and to do what is right,” adding, “Iraq must continue to cooperate with the inspectors and refrain from giving any pretext to warmongers.” He said, “An attack against Iraq without any credible evidence to the international community of the imminent threat it poses is … illegal and unjustified.”
Nedkhedehe Efiong Nedkhedehe of Nigeria said his government “calls on Iraq to comply with its obligations under the various U.N. resolutions including Resolution 1441 and cooperate with the U.N. inspection team so that the issue can be resolved peacefully. … Nigeria urges all concerned to make sustained efforts to avoid the use of force while ensuring the effective implementation of Resolution 1441.”
At the conclusion of the debate, Iraqi Ambassador Mohammed al-Douri said, “Iraq is determined to cooperate both in substance and in process in order to cut off at the knees any allegations that Iraq has [weapons of mass destruction]. We are confident that no one will find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq because there are none” (Jim Wurst, Global Security Newswire, Feb.20)
Iraq Still Not Fully Cooperating, Inspectors Say
Iraqi officials are not, however, fully cooperating with inspections, according to U.N. weapons inspectors operating within Iraq.
No Iraqi WMD scientists have agreed to take part in a private interview with inspectors since Feb. 7, shortly before Blix and IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei arrived in Baghdad to meet with Iraqi officials, according to the Washington Post. Since then, UNMOVIC inspectors have sought to interview 28 chemical and biological scientists, but most have refused to do so without an Iraqi official present. While five agreed to participate in the interviews by themselves, they each insisted that a tape recording of the interview be made. Inspectors refused to go ahead with these interviews because of concerns that the tape, which would probably have been given to Iraqi officials, would have kept the scientists from being candid, the Post reported.
“The tape recorder has been the stumbling block,” a U.N. official said.
The IAEA has conducted several recorded interviews with Iraqi nuclear scientists. In some cases, inspectors kept the tapes while in others they were given to the scientists. These interviews, however, are considered to be less controversial because U.N. experts have already said they do not believe Iraq has relaunched its nuclear program, the Post reported.
Inspectors also have not received additional documents related to Iraq’s past WMD programs, even though Baghdad had promised to establish a commission to search the country for them, U.N. officials said.
Since last week’s Security Council meeting, “we have not seen any positive moves on the part of Iraq,” a U.N. official said. “They are not fulfilling their promises,” another official said.
Iraqi officials, however, have said they have complied with inspections and that most of the international community, excluding the United States and the United Kingdom, views Iraq as the victim.
“We have done what was asked of us — and the whole world sees that,” a senior Iraqi official said. “All these criticisms are just raised by the Americans as a way to justify their aggression,” the official added.
Iraq might be misreading the intentions of Security Council members or could be still attempting to push the situation to the edge by agreeing to concessions at the last minute to block U.S. attempts to build a coalition for military action, U.N. officials and diplomats said.
“They are feeling: The world opinion is with us. We can resist further pressure. We have time. We can play with the U.S. and U.K.,” a U.N. official said. “This is very dangerous,” the official added (Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post, Feb. 20).
Inspections
U.N. inspectors visited at least six suspect Iraqi sites today, according to Reuters. UNMOVIC missile experts visited the Taji, Ibn al-Haytham, al-Quds and Karameh missile sites, Iraqi officials said (Reuters/MSNBC.com, Feb. 20). Inspectors also visited al-Samoud Factory and al-Basil Company, according to the Associated Press (Bassem Mroue, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Feb. 20).
Inspectors yesterday visited at least 19 suspect sites, according to an IAEA press release. UNMOVIC missile inspectors visited al-Samoud Factory. UNMOVIC biological inspectors visited Tikrit University’s College of Agriculture, College of Sciences, College of Engineering and College of Women Education. They also inspected a dairy factory located in south Tikrit.
Inspectors visited the Ibn al-Waleed State Company in Baghdad, the IAEA release said. IAEA inspectors visited al-Feda’a hydraulics factory and the State Company of Mechanical and Electrical Contracts’s manufacturing, storage and repair facility. IAEA inspectors also conducted a radiation survey in areas east of Baghdad (International Atomic Energy Agency release, Feb. 19).
For further information, see:
UNMOVIC
IAEA Iraq Action Team
U.N. Resolution 1441
An Indian firm, recently sanctioned by the United States, sent weapons-building equipment to Iraq, a U.S. State Department spokesman said yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 19).
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher yesterday cited Indian media reports that NEC Engineers Private has shipped titanium vessels, filters, titanium centrifugal pumps, atomized and spherical aluminum powder, and titanium anodes to Baghdad. Indian press reports indicated that NEC sent a total of 10 shipments to Iraq, Boucher said.
The sanctions, which were also leveled against the firm’s president Hans Raj Shiv, do not apply to the Indian government, Boucher added.
India has been helpful with its “efforts to halt Indian entities from engaging in illicit activities with (weapons of mass destruction) and missile programs in the Middle East and elsewhere,” according to Boucher.
Indian officials have been investigating NEC and have tried “to prevent further proliferant exports and have arrested two principals of the company,” he added.
“Unfortunately, NEC and Shiv have shifted operations to other locations,” Boucher said. “We hope our actions will support the steps India is taking, and will encourage other governments to take similar steps,” Boucher said (Nicholas Kralev, Washington Times, Feb. 20).
Experts from the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency have conducted hundreds of inspections in Iraq since resuming the post-Gulf War inspection regime Nov. 27. More than 200 U.N. personnel, including about 150 inspectors, are now based in the country at two facilities in Baghdad and Mosul. The following chart summarizes some of the inspectors’ recently reported activities.
| Date | Site | Activity | | Feb. 20 | Taji missile site | See GSN, Feb. 20. | | Ibn al-Haitham missile site | | Al-Quds missile site | | Karameh missile site | | Al-Samoud Factory | | Al-Basil Company | | Feb. 19 | Al-Samoud Factory | See GSN, Feb. 20. | | Tikrit University’s College of Agriculture | | Tikrit University’s College of Sciences | | Tikrit University’s College of Engineering | | Tikrit University’s College of Women Education | | Dairy factory in south Tikrit | | Ibn al-Waleed State Company in Baghdad | | Al-Feda’a hydraulics factory | | State Company of Mechanical and Electrical Contracts’s manufacturing, storage and repair facility | | Areas east of Baghdad | IAEA inspectors conducted a radiation survey (see GSN, Feb. 20). | | Abu Ghraib | An al-Samoud missile site, northwest of Baghdad (see GSN, Feb. 19). | | Al-Mamoun | UNMOVIC team inspected this military compound near Baghdad (see GSN, Feb. 19). | | Ibn al-Haithem | UNMOVIC team inspected this military compound near Baghdad (see GSN, Feb. 19). | | Al-Fidaa | UNMOVIC team inspected this military compound near Baghdad (see GSN, Feb. 19). | | Al-Muthanna | UNMOVIC chemical team visited site near Baghdad (see GSN, Feb. 19). | | Vegetable oil factory | Inspectors visited factory in Baghdad (see GSN, Feb. 19). | | Al-Nidaa | IAEA inspectors visited military compound (see GSN, Feb. 19). | | Al-Zawra | IAEA inspectors visited military compound (see GSN, Feb. 19). | | Nahrawan | IAEA inspectors visited military compound south of Baghdad (see GSN, Feb. 19). | | Feb. 18 | Al-Khadima | Facility responsible for final assembly of al-Samoud missiles (see GSN, Feb. 19). | | Al-Harith | Missile engine and gyroscope research and development facility (see GSN, Feb. 19). | | Al-Qaid | Site where al-Samoud missile warheads are filled (see GSN, Feb. 19). | | Al-Radwan | Facility manufactures missile parts and containers (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Deployed al-Samoud missiles | UNMOVIC missile team visited deployed missiles (see GSN, Feb. 19). | | Al-Mutanna | Team visited facility to continue destroying artillery shells filled with mustard agent but were delayed by weather (see GSN, Feb. 19). | | Sa’ad State Company | UNMOVIC team visited mechanical engineering and design center (see GSN, Feb. 19). | | Al-Naser al-Adheem General Company | IAEA team visited facility in Baghdad’s Daura district (see GSN, Feb. 19). | | Al-Qa Qaa | U.N. teams visit this chemical and explosives production plant (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Mansour State Company | IAEA radiation survey of electronics manufacturing facility (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Dar al-Salam chemical plant | (See GSN, Feb. 18). | | Al-Tahidi factory | Production plant for electrical cables and high-voltage generators (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Qadasiyah Dairy Factory in southern Diwaniya province | (See GSN, Feb. 18). | | Feb. 17 | Al-Khadimia and al-Samoud Factories | UNMOVIC missile inspectors examined these facilities that work on liquid-fueled engines (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Al-Assma Company | Manufacturing plant for al-Fateh missile components (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Al-Mutasim airfield | Site of Iraqi UAV testing (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Al-Ameen Factory | Site of static testing of al-Fateh and al-Abour missile motor cases (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Um al-Maarik General Establishment | Manufacturing facility for missile and rocket motor cases (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Al-Muthanna | UNMOVIC chemical experts visited “in connection with the mustard gas destruction process and took some chemical samples for analysis” (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Al-Zahif al-Kabeer Center | Chemical plant designed to extract minerals and chemical compounds from mining and seawater (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Al-Fuwayjah | UNMOVIC biological experts visited this seed processing facility (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Hadr Ammuntion Storage Facility | UNMOVIC teams “focused primarily on artillery and small-caliber munitions” (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Samarra | IAEA radiation survey (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Al-Nida | IAEA experts visited this heavy industrial manufacturing plant (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Um al-Maarik | IAEA “no-notice” inspection (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Tho al-Fekar | IAEA team investigates flow forming equipment and processes (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Feb. 16 | Food processing facility at Baquba | UNMOVIC biological inspectors visited (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Biology Department of the College of Sciences at Baquba University | | Food processing facility at Diyala | | Diyala Tuberculosis and respiratory center | | Al-Kindi | UNMOVIC missile experts visited this missile development site (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Ibn al-Haytham | UNMOVIC missile experts tagged SA-2 missile engines (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Taji | Missile experts tagged al-Samoud 2 missiles (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Al-Mamoun | Missile inspectors examined casting chambers rebuilt by Iraq after U.N. inspectors destroyed them in the 1990s (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Fallujah 3 | UNMOVIC chemical experts conducted an “inspection involved [in] the verification of declared items” (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Hadr Ammunition Storage Facility | UNMOVIC teams “covered a vast amount of ground, which included roughly 300 storage warehouses, bunkers, brick stores, metal containers and external munitions dumps” (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Feb. 15 | Al-Nida | UNMOVIC missile inspection of solid propellant mixer plant (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Nissan Factory 17 | Production plant for al-Samound missile components (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Salah al-Din State Company | Manufacturing facility for fuses and printed circuit boards for missiles (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Saddam Center for Biotechnology Research | UNMOVIC biological team visited to “follow up the movement of items notified by the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate” (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Chemistry Department of Saddam University College of Science | (See GSN, Feb. 18). | | Southern Refinery Company | UNMOVIC chemical experts sought evidence of chemical weapons production at this facility in Basra (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Tuwaitha | Rockclimbing IAEA inspectors explore previously inaccessible underground chambers at the Israeli-bombed Tamuz 1 reactor complex (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Tuwaitha | IAEA officials inspected and prepared to remove “a small amount of natural uranium slurry,” previously intended for removal in 1998 (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Radwan and Yarmouk facilities | IAEA radiation surveys (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Taji Engineering facility | IAEA inspectors examined this aircraft engine facility (see GSN, Feb. 18). | | Feb. 7-13 | See GSN, Feb. 14. | |
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The Security Council yesterday held its first formal meeting on North Korea’s nuclear program since a crisis heightened over the issue last month, when Pyongyang announced it was withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Instead of taking any immediate action, the council decided to refer the issue to another group of experts (see GSN, Feb. 19).
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors last week found North Korea was in “noncompliance” with its IAEA safeguards commitments and referred the matter to the United Nations (see GSN, Feb. 12).
After a brief closed-door consultation, German U.N. Ambassador Gunter Pleuger, this month’s Security Council president, said council members were taking the IAEA report to their own national experts so that they may “draw their substantial and legal conclusions and make their recommendations to the members of the council. On that basis the council will take the matter up and discuss it.”
Calling the possibility of North Korea restarting its nuclear weapons program “an important and very complicated issue,” Pleuger said, “The council wanted to refer this to the experts first before discussing it in the council itself.” There is no deadline for the experts to report back to the council, he added.
U.S. Deputy U.N. Ambassador James Cunningham said, “We look forward to working with our colleagues on the council on finding a way to achieve a verifiable and irreversible dismantling of North Korea’s nuclear program.” He rejected the North Korean contention that the issue should be dealt with bilaterally between Pyongyang and Washington. This is “a matter of concern to the entire international community,” he said (Jim Wurst, Global Security Newswire, Feb. 20).
Powell Begins Asian Trip Tomorrow
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is scheduled to leave tomorrow for Japan, China and South Korea to discuss the nuclear standoff and attend the inauguration ceremony of South Korean President-elect Roh Moo-hyun, the Associated Press reported.
It will be his first visit to the region since the latest crisis began, according to AP.
Roh, meanwhile, said that he would oppose any plans to attack North Korea.
The president-elect said he is “willing to differ with the United States … if that helps prevent a war.”
“An attack on North Korea could trigger a war engulfing the entire Korean Peninsula,” Roh said. “It’s a serious issue, and at this moment, I am against even consideration of such an option,” he added (George Gedda, Associated Press/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Feb. 20).
Powell’s Methods
Powell has chosen not to take such trips as often as some of his predecessors and some critics charge that his diplomatic style relies too much on telephone conversations, the Washington Post reported today.
Powell reportedly canceled a trip late last year to Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing and has not made any solo diplomatic visits lasting more than two days since last September, according to the Post.
Experts said that, in general, longer trips allow officials more time to appreciate the nuances of complicated relationships and issues.
Senior officials from Washington should “go to smaller countries and persuade them,” said a diplomat from an East European country that has supported the White House on its Iraq confrontation. “You’ve got Powell and (national security adviser Condoleezza) Rice on TV. Why didn’t they go to Europe … you should have been all over Europe. It’s been missing,” the diplomat added (Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, Feb. 20).
For further information, see:
Agreed Framework Text
KEDO
NPT Text
States Parties to the NPT (U.N.)
U.N. Background on NPT
An Iranian opposition group plans to expose a site where they say Iran houses equipment to enrich uranium for building nuclear weapons, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Feb. 11).
The National Council of Resistance of Iran revealed two nuclear sites last August, which are due to be inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency this weekend (see GSN, Dec. 13, 2002). The group announced it will reveal the new site today and alleged that Tehran has removed equipment from Natanz, one of the sites to be visited by inspectors, the Post reported.
Alireza Jafarzadeh, the group’s Washington representative, alleged that Chinese and North Korean experts have aided the Iranian nuclear program. North Korean and Chinese experts oversaw the installation of centrifuge equipment used to enrich uranium near Isfahan and about 50 Chinese have been seen at a uranium mine at Saghand, he said.
The centrifuge systems were tested at Kola Electric, a supposed watch factory near Tehran, Jafarzadeh said. The site has two 4,500 square foot rooms, he added.
The nuclear effort at Natanz began two years ago, covers 25 acres and has sections that are 25 feet underground and protected by eight-foot-thick concrete, the Washington Post reported. The other facility, at Arak, began in 1996 and is designed to produce heavy water to use plutonium in weapons, according to the Post. That site is set to be ready for testing in April and Iran will claim the heavy water is necessary for industrial use, according to the opposition group.
The Natanz site is too big to be Iran’s first enriched uranium project, according to some experts. Iran, therefore, might be running a smaller pilot program now that has paved the way for new facility, they added (Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, Feb. 20).
Eight years ago, Japan studied, and rejected, developing its own nuclear weapons, the Asahi Shimbun reported today. A 1995 Japanese Defense Agency study concluded that the military balance in Asia would have been upset if the country were to do so (see GSN, June 5, 2002).
The study, obtained by the Japanese newspaper, found several disadvantages to Japan developing its own nuclear arsenal. For example, a nuclear-armed Japan would have destroyed the basis for the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the reliability of the U.S. nuclear umbrella would have been damaged, and Washington would have questioned Tokyo’s commitment to their military alliance, the Shimbun reported. In addition, the political and economic costs of establishing a nuclear weapons infrastructure would have been too high, according to the study.
The 1995 report was the second time that Japan examined the idea of developing nuclear weapons, with an earlier study conducted between 1967 and 1970, according to the Shimbun (Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 20).
Japanese Defense Agency spokesman Manabu Shimamoto said today that the report was an internal agency document and had never been intended to be made public (Kenji Hall, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Feb. 20).
For further information, see:
NPT Text
States Parties to the NPT (U.N.)
U.N. Background on NPT
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Top U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix plans to officially ask Baghdad to destroy its stockpile of al-Samoud 2 missiles, the Wall Street Journal reported today (see GSN, Feb. 19).
Blix will send a letter this week notifying Iraq that the al-Samoud 2’s maximum range exceeds the 150-kilometer limit set by U.N. resolutions, the Journal reported.
If Baghdad complies, and destroys the missiles, the U.S. effort to build an international coalition to invade Iraq could suffer. If Iraq refuses to destroy the missiles, however, the United States could use the al-Samoud 2 as evidence that Baghdad refuses to disarm, according to the Journal (David Cloud, Wall Street Journal, Feb. 20).
Blix has not yet decided how to address Iraq’s illicit rocket engine imports and its rebuilding of missile motor casting chambers that previous U.N. inspectors had destroyed. Blix could send a letter shortly with his decision, the Associated Press reported.
Independent experts corroborated suspicions that the casting chambers could still produce missile motors with ranges “significantly greater” than 93 miles, according to Blix.
“Accordingly, these chambers remain proscribed,” he said (Edith Lederer, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Feb.20).
While waiting for a Blix decision and an Iraqi response, U.N. inspectors have continued tag al-Samoud 2 missiles in Iraq. Inspectors attach 32 tags with bar codes to each section of the 23-foot missiles.
Iraq’s Ibn al-Haytham facility has delivered 50 al-Samoud 2 missiles to the Iraqi army and has another 50 on the assembly line, Mazhar Ahmad, the factory’s director, said Wednesday (Jacques Charmelot, Agence France-Presse, Feb. 20).
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