 |
|
Iraqi
soldiers leave the Al-Qaim complex during inspection IAEA experts
|
BAGHDAD,
December 10 (IslamOline & News Agencies) – Iraq accused the U.S.
Tuesday, December 10, of seeking to derail the whole inspection process
by monopolizing the distribution of its key arms inventory submitted
Saturday, December 7.
Baghdad
charged Washington has hijacked the whole process by seizing its
"currently accurate, full and complete declaration" of its
weapons programs and making copies available only to the Security
Council five permanent members, Agence France-Presse (AFP).
A
U.S. official took Iraq's arms inventory from U.N. headquarters shortly
after its delivery, arguing that only permanent members of the Security
Council should see the full document.
The
other 10 members of the council will receive only an expurgated version
of the declaration, he said.
"The
United States forced the council president [Alfonso Valdivieso of
Colombia] to hand over the [Security Council's] copy of the Iraqi
dossier in defiance of a decision by council members to entrust it to
the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC)
and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," an Iraqi
Foreign Ministry statement charged.
"It's
an act of banditry unparalleled in the history of the United
Nations," underlined the statement.
"The
U.S. behavior shows utter disrespect for the U.N. Charter and the
inalienable rights of the 10 rotating members of the Security
Council."
"By
acting in this way, the United States is looking for a fig leaf for
aggression at a time when the whole world has seen through its false
claims about Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction,"
stressed the Iraqi statement.
Washington
defended its removal of the massive declaration, claiming it was
essential to restrict what it described as circulation of sensitive
details of how Baghdad made weapons of mass destruction to the five
permanent members of the Security Council who are declared nuclear
powers.
Copies
were made "in a controlled environment in order to guard against
the inadvertent release of information," said U.S. State Department
spokesman Richard Boucher.
A
second copy of the Iraqi declaration was shared between the two U.N.
inspection agencies.
IAEA
chief Mohamed el-Baradei has said it will be at least 10 days before his
analysts are ready to make even a preliminary report to the Security
Council.
Meanwhile,
U.N. arms experts carried out five inspections on Tuesday ranging far
out of Baghdad for the first time since the hunt for alleged banned arms
resumed two weeks ago.
"We
have sent quite a few teams out there today," U.N. spokesman Hiro
Ueki told AFP, adding that Tuesday was the busiest day so far.
More
inspectors were due to arrive later in the day to swell their ranks
towards 70.
"We
have a large number of UNMOVIC [U.N. Monitoring, Verification and
Inspection Commission] arriving today, about 25," Ueki said.
A
team of nuclear experts made the first long-range mission, traveling 400
kilometers (250 miles) to check installations reportedly once used to
extract uranium, sources said.
They
went to Al-Qaim on the border with Syria where uranium was worked before
the 1991 Gulf War.
The
installations there were put under permanent monitoring by the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which disbanded Iraq's
nuclear program between 1991 and 1998, when arms inspectors quit
Baghdad.
Meanwhile,
another IAEA team visited Al-Furat, 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of
the capital where Iraq set up centrifuges which can be used to enrich
uranium.
A
third set of nuclear specialists returned for the third time to the
Tuwaitha complex south of Baghdad, which before the Gulf war was the
center of Iraq's nuclear research.
UNMOVIC
staff also inspected a laboratory near Baghdad which U.S. and British
intelligence agencies suspect has resumed production of prohibited
substances.
The
Amariya lab in the Abu-Ghraib suburb allegedly carried out research
associated with Iraq's germ warfare program before 1991.
The
U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) claims the stock-piling capacity
at the laboratory had recently been increased beyond what would normally
be required for civilian purposes.
Inspectors
also returned to installations in Baghdad's Waziriya district which were
checked last week for their role in building missile guidance systems.
The
reinforcements boosted the 17 inspectors who reached Baghdad November
25.
By
the end of the month the United Nations intends to have some 100
inspectors deployed.
Iraq's
chief liaison with the U.N. arms experts, General Hossam Mohammad Amin,
said he hoped the renewed checks could be completed by next August.
"The
work of the inspection teams in Iraq could last eight months if UNMOVIC
and the IAEA keep their promises" to be objective and not play
politics, Amin told the Al-Rafidain weekly.
The
U.N. teams had acted with "calm and professionalism" at least
"up until now," he said, although he complained they had
"also interfered with surprise visits".
Iraq
notably protested last week when the experts marched into a Baghdad
palace normally reserved for state guests.
