NEWS
Iraq denies having weapons of mass destruction
Looking for a print version?
Simply choose ‘Print’ on your computer and a printer-friendly document will be generated.
Also by :
- Groups rally to prevent cyanide use in mines (October 14, 2001)
- Protesters condemn school board decision regarding homosexuality (October 14, 2001)
- Political correctness raises concerns (October 14, 2001)
- What is anthrax? (October 14, 2001)
- U.S. conducts 9th night of Afghan air raids (October 15, 2001)
Related Stories:
- Iraq agrees to meet Dec. 8 disclosure deadline (November 20, 2002)
- U.S. says any false step by Iraq could lead to war (November 11, 2002)
- UN inspectors arrive in Iraq, western jets raid (November 19, 2002)
- Inspector: no WMDs in Iraq (October 7, 2004)
- Reluctant Iraq accepts U.N. resolution to disarm (November 14, 2002)
Wednesday, December 4, 2002
BAGHDAD (REUTERS) — Iraq defied Washington’s threats of war, saying it had no weapons of mass destruction to confess to but promising to meet a U.N. weekend deadline to declare all arms programs.
Amid statues, marble fountains and rose gardens, U.N. arms inspectors searched one of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s lavish palaces Tuesday in the biggest test of Iraqi cooperation since inspections resumed last week for the first time in four years.
Inspections of palaces were often scenes of friction between Iraq and U.N. inspectors in the 1990s, but Tuesday’s inspection of the al-Sojoud palace in Baghdad seemed to go smoothly.
Sticking to a policy of complying with the U.N., Iraq said it would issue a statement on its arms programs Saturday — a day before the U.N. deadline — and dismissed Washington’s accusations that it possessed weapons of mass destruction.
Hussam Mohammed Amin, head of the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate, said, “Of course the declaration will have new elements, but these new elements will not, shall we say, necessarily include a declaration of the presence of weapons of mass destruction. We are a country devoid of weapons of mass destruction.”
U.S. President George Bush repeated Tuesday that Iraq did have banned weapons and had to disarm peacefully or face force. But a White House spokesman said guardedly that U.S. officials would take an “appropriate time” to respond to an Iraqi declaration, after studying what is likely to be a huge document in Arabic.
Muslim NATO member Turkey said Tuesday it would allow U.S. warplanes to use its air bases in any war against Iraq but reiterated insistence on a new U.N. resolution, authorizing the use of force against Iraq, if Baghdad did not comply with the arms inspections.
The Foreign Ministry later sought to play down the comments of Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis, saying he did not mean to imply any final decision had been made on support for any eventual military action.
Iraq says it fired on Western war planes
In new reminders that a low-intensity conflict is already being waged in the region, Iraq said it opened fire at Western warplanes Tuesday, and Kuwait said an Iraqi boat shot at its coast guards but there were no serious casualties.
Tuesday’s palace search began with an inspector telling guards, “Open the gate, we want to come in.” A guard replied, “We can’t, we are waiting for orders.” The inspector protested and minutes later the gates opened.
“Our inspectors were able to inspect every corner of the presidential palace, and even though the site is large, they inspected every room,” said Yashuhiro Ueki, spokesman in Iraq for the arms inspection body UNMOVIC.
Iraq questioned the motives of the inspectors — charged by the U.N. Security Council to hunt down any nuclear, chemical and biological weapons — in carrying out the palace search.
“Was this visit really to search for banned weapons or for other aims?” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“Is this the start of the bad behavior that the United States, Britain and the Zionist entity (Israel) want to impose on the United Nations?”
Journalists were taken along a palm-lined drive to be given a peek inside the grandiose palace grounds after the U.N. experts and their Iraqi escorts left.
Statuary stood at the entrance and in a domed courtyard. Inside the palace there were gold-colored elevator doors.
The palace was bombed by Western planes after inspectors pulled out of Iraq in 1998, accusing authorities of obstructing their work. A resolution passed by the U.N. Security Council last month set tough guidelines for new inspections, abolishing special arrangements for the palaces.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday that Iraqi cooperation had been good so far and praised the inspectors for using their authority to visit the palace.
“There is a good indication that the Iraqis are cooperating, but this is only the beginning,” he said.
Bush warns Saddam: disarm or face war
Bush told cheering supporters at a political rally: “(Saddam) says he doesn’t have weapons of mass destruction. He’s got ‘em. He’s not only got ‘em, he’s used them.
“The choice is his. And if he does not disarm, the United States of America will lead a coalition and disarm him, in the name of peace.”
Turkey’s air bases would be strategically important in the event of a U.S.-led war on Baghdad. The United States already uses Turkish air bases to patrol a so-called “no-fly” zone over northern Iraq that U.S. and British planes have enforced since the end of the 1991 Gulf War.
Turkish Foreign Minister Yakis told a news conference that Ankara still hoped the standoff with Iraq could be resolved peacefully.
“Turkey wants a new U.N. resolution on the use of force. U.N. resolution 1441 does not allow the automatic resort to armed intervention,” Yakis said.
“But if it comes to that, then of course we will cooperate with the United States because it is a big ally and we have excellent relations with the United States,” Yakis said.
But the Foreign Ministry later said in its statement, “This doesn’t mean a commitment.”
The United States stalled renewal of a U.N. oil-for-food humanitarian program for Iraq until the Security Council agreed to expand a list of goods that may be banned for export to Baghdad.
Washington proposed the humanitarian program be extended for two weeks to allow time to renegotiate the list, a move opposed by the other 14 council members favoring extension for the usual six months.
Among items Washington wants banned is an antidote to nerve gas, which it fears could be used to protect Saddam’s forces if he resorts to such weapons in a war.
<
