Iraq:  Baghdad to Destroy Nine al-Samoud 2 Missiles Today

Iraq plans to destroy an additional nine banned al-Samoud 2 missiles today, according to Uday al-Ta'ae, a senior Iraqi Information Ministry official (see GSN, March 4; Reuters, March 5).

Iraq yesterday destroyed three al-Samoud 2 missiles, bringing the total to date to 19, according to an International Atomic Energy Agency press release.  Iraqi technicians also destroyed an al-Samoud 2 missile launcher, five missile engines and completed the destruction of a second casting chamber for al-Samoud 2 components (IAEA release, March 4).

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Iraq:  Baghdad Destroys 16 Al-Samoud 2 Missiles

Iraq yesterday destroyed six of its banned al-Samoud 2 missiles, bringing the total number of destroyed missiles since Saturday to 16, according to an International Atomic Energy press release (see GSN, March 3).  Iraqi technicians yesterday also completed the destruction of a casting chamber and began the destruction of a second chamber, scheduled to be completed today (IAEA release, March 3).

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Iraq:  Missile Destruction Begins, at Least Seven Planned for Today

Iraq is set to destroy at least seven of its banned al-Samoud 2 missiles today, bringing the total destroyed since Saturday to 17.  Iraqi officials warned, however, that the destruction effort could stop if the United States continues to press for war (see GSN, Feb. 28).

Iraq plans to destroy between seven and nine of the missiles today, said Odai al-Taie, an official in the Iraq Information Ministry (Bassem Mroue, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, March 3). 

Iraq destroyed six missiles yesterday in the presence of U.N. inspectors, in addition to four Saturday, said Iraqi presidential adviser Gen. Amir Saadi.  He added that Iraq hoped to continue that pace over the next several days.  Iraq has about 100 operational al-Samoud 2 missiles and another 20 in various stages of construction, Saadi said.  At the current rate of destruction, it should take about three weeks for Iraq to destroy all of the banned missiles, according to the Washington Post (Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post, March 3).

The missiles are being destroyed at the Taji military site, north of Baghdad, according to the Los Angeles Times.  Iraqi officials have refused to allow reporters to observe the destruction, saying pictures of the event would hurt many Iraqis personally.

Showing the missile destruction “would be in the interest of Iraq” to demonstrate its willingness to comply with U.N. orders, Saadi said.  “But from previous experience, we know such pictures would be painful to the Iraqi people,” he said.

Saadi warned, however, that Iraq could stop destroying the missiles if the United States continued to plan to invade without U.N. approval.

“If it turns out during an early stage this month that America is not going the legal way, then why should we continue?” he asked (Joyn Daniszewski, Los Angeles Times, March 3).

Iraq began the missile destruction effort on Saturday, when it destroyed the first group of four by crushing them with a bulldozer, according to the New York Times.  The United Nations would have preferred that the missiles were destroyed with explosives, but Iraq choose to crush them, said Demetrius Perricos, deputy U.N. weapons inspector. 

Iraq also began destroying Saturday one of the two casting chambers used to produce solid rocket propellant and engines for other short-range missiles, Perricos said.

“All the missiles that are presently deployed, all the missiles in a state where they are ready to be deployed and all the parts and components are also to be destroyed,” he said (Neil MacFarquahar, New York Times, March 2).

U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix Friday praised Iraq’s decision to abide by the U.N. order to destroy the al-Samoud 2 missiles, saying Iraq’s action represented “a very significant piece of real disarmament” (U.N. release, Feb. 28).

Iraqi Murder Mystery

Meanwhile, Western intelligence agencies are investigating claims that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ordered the murder of a senior missile engineer to prevent him from speaking with U.N. inspectors, according to the London Telegraph.

Gen. Muhammad Sa’id al-Darraj, who led Iraq’s mobile Scud missile force until three months ago, died a day after meeting with Iraqi officials, according to Arab newspaper reports.  The purpose of the meeting was to discuss how al-Darraj would conceal what he knew of Iraq’s missile efforts if interviewed by inspectors, the Telegraph reported.

Al-Darraj reportedly told relatives that he had been given a poisoned drink during the meeting, which took place at one of Hussein’s presidential palaces, according to the Telegraph.

British officials said yesterday that they were attempting to verify the claim (Wastell/Coman, London Telegraph, March 2).

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Iraq:  Baghdad Considering U.N. Order to Destroy Missile Program

A top Iraqi official said today that Baghdad wants to negotiate the U.N. order to destroy its al-Samoud 2 missiles, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 21).

Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix delivered a letter Friday demanding that Iraq begin to destroy all its al-Samoud 2 missiles by March 1.  A panel of U.N. experts found that the missile’s range exceeds the 150-kilometer set by post-Gulf War U.N. resolutions.

“This is being studied very carefully and the channels are still open” between Iraq and the United Nations, Lt. Gen. Amer al-Saadi said Monday.  “We will come up with a decision quite soon,” he added.

“There is an open dialogue between us and (the weapons inspectors) and we hope that it will be settled,” al-Saadi said.

The top Iraqi liaison to the weapons inspectors said last night that the missiles, in their final forms, will not exceed the 150-kilometer limit.

“The missile was and is still being researched and developed and hasn’t reached its final stage.  The weights are not final,” Lt. Gen. Hossam Mohamed Amin said.  “We have suggested to (the inspectors) that they randomly choose any missile they want and check its range.  We are sure its range will be less,” he added.

Amin said Iraq was waiting for a response from chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix after Baghdad sent him a letter asking that he reconsider his order to destroy the missiles.  A U.N. official in Baghdad, however, said that Blix had answered by ordering the missiles destroyed by the end of this week.

“This is not negotiable,” the official said.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said that he expects Baghdad to comply with the order.

“If they refused to destroy the weapons, the Security Council will have to make a decision,” Annan said.  “I don’t see why they would not destroy them,” he added (Niko Price, Associated Press/MSNBC.com, Feb. 24).

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