"Enemy warplanes bombed civilian installations in the provinces of Basra and Zi-Qar"

BAGHDAD, December 26 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – While Iraq underlined that U.N. weapons inspectors failed, after 30 days of scrutinized inspections, to find proof supporting claims that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, Anglo-American war planes killed three Iraqi civilians and wounded 16 others in a new raid on southern Iraq Thursday, December 26.

"Enemy warplanes bombed civilian installations in the provinces of Basra and Zi-Qar, and three Iraqi civilians were killed and sixteen others wounded in the attacks," the Iraq official INA news agency quoted a military spokesman as saying.

U.N. arms inspectors have found no proof to substantiate U.S. and British allegations that Iraq possesses prohibited weapons, the head of the Iraqi liaison with the experts told a news conference, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"The U.N. inspectors have until now found no direct or indirect proof" that Iraq possesses weapons prohibited by the United Nations, said General Hossam Mohammad Amin, head of the Iraq National Monitoring Authority.

"In the final analysis, the teams have not been able to find any evidence ... to support American and British allegations that Iraq is harboring or storing banned weapons," Amin told reporters.

"On the contrary, the teams have been able to see that all the information supplied to them by us was accurate."

Iraq has consistently denied that it has or is developing any weapons prohibited by a variety of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Asked about the list being prepared of Iraqi scientists associated with the country's earlier arms programs, Amin said it "will be ready in two or three days, probably Sunday, December 29, and Iraq will submit it to the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspections Commission (UNMOVIC)."

He declined to name any of the scientist or to give the number of scientists to be included in the list, adding only the number was in the hundreds.

The United States has urged the inspectors to use their powers under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441, which tightened the inspections regime, to spirit Iraqi weapons scientists and their families out of the country to interview them safe from any alleged intimidation by the Baghdad regime.

Asked what he thought about that, Amin said, "We do not think it is necessary ... people are free to accept these interviews or to refuse them."

"Not the National Monitoring Authority, the Iraqi government, UNMOVIC or the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] can constrain anyone to be interviewed."

Scientists are free to accept or to refuse being questioned by U.N. inspectors, he stressed.

"We leave them the choice to accept or refuse," he said, asserting that for his own part he would resist any request to be questioned outside Iraq.

"I'm not going anywhere because I do not like leaving my country. If they [U.N. inspectors] want to question me, they can do this inside Iraq," he added.

Amin said, however, that Iraq prefers the presence of representatives from the National Monitoring Authority in any interview with any Iraqi scientist to safeguard his rights.

He denied that the Iraqi regime had approached any of the Iraqi scientists on how to deal with the U.N. questioning.

"We have nothing to hide. Scientists are free to say whatever they want," he maintained.

The U.N. announced earlier in December that it had given Iraq until the end of the month to provide a complete list of scientists currently and formerly involved in its alleged chemical, biological, nuclear and ballistic missile programs and associated research, development and production facilities.

On claims propagated by Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon that Iraq had moved weapons of mass destruction to Syria, the Iraqi official branded such allegations as mere lies. 

The aim of such claims is to make gains in the upcoming Israeli elections because whoever speaks against Syria and Arabs wins the Israeli elections, Amin stressed.

Asked whether the samples taken by U.N. inspectors from various sites in Iraq and sent to Vienna for testing had proven positive, Amin responded to the negative.

Had any of the tests proven positive, the UNMOVIC or IAEA would have asked for clarifications from Iraq which was not been the case.

"This simply means that the results of the tests were negative," said the Iraqi official.

On the interviewing of Mazen Mohammad, the head of Baghdad’s Technology University, Amin said the inspectors might have wanted to verify information provided by Sabah Abd El-Nur, a professor at the technology university, who was debriefed by the U.N. experts on Tuesday, December 24.

He denied that the U.N. had interviewed any other Iraq scientist other than Abd El-Nur.

Commenting on the Iraqi defense forces downing of an American spy plane in southern Iraq Sunday, December 22, Amin reaffirmed that the so-called no-fly zones were self-styled by the United States and Britain in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War. They were not mandated by the U.N. Security Council and that is why Iraq has a legitimate right to resists any American or British aggression in these zones.

On American and British claims that the Iraqi weapons declaration handed over to the U.N. Friday, December 8, was full of omissions, the Iraqi official underlined that neither UNMOVIC nor IAEA had reported any such omissions.

Only the Americans and British speak about omissions, he elaborated, reaffirming Iraq’s readiness to discuss any differences with the inspectors to fill any gaps in the declaration.

The Iraqi official stressed that the inspection process was disturbing whether it was carried out professionally or not.

He underlined, however, that the water-tight inspections are the only means to verify Iraq's assertion that the country is free from all weapons of mass destruction and to refute all American and British allegations suggesting otherwise.

Egypt refuses to take part in any war against Iraq

"If they [U.N. inspectors] want to question me, they can do this inside Iraq," said Amin

In Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher stressed the country "will not in any way take part in an offensive" against Iraq and believes a war can still be averted.

"We will not send troops, and we will not take part in this war," Maher replied when asked what his government would do if a U.S.-led war against Iraq is launched, even one with the blessing of the United Nations.

"Egypt will not in any way take part in an offensive," he said in the interview with AFP, speaking in French.

"The chances of being able to avoid war are perhaps not great, but certainly much greater than they were two months ago," before U.N. arms inspections resumed in Iraq, Egypt's top diplomat said.

"I believe the United States is convinced the more it shows a determination to make war, the more chances there are to avoid war," said Maher, commenting on the relentless U.S. military buildup in the Gulf.

"By building up troops, one can obtain what one can call a victory without actually moving these troops," he added.

"I don't know. It is clear that in the United States, there are forces pushing in one direction, as there are others pushing in another direction," Maher said.

"One cannot know how things will turn out. But we continue to work as if it were possible to avoid war," he said.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has repeatedly opposed a war against Iraq, which he warned would destabilize the entire region, and he has asked Iraq to facilitate as much as possible the work of the weapons inspectors.

Lieberman says Bush should show his cards on Iraqi weapons

In Doha, U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, a senior Democrat, called on President George W. Bush to reveal to the world the proof he says he has about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction.

Lieberman, who was the vice presidential candidate on Al Gore's unsuccessful ticket for the White House in 2000 and is tipped as a candidate for the top spot in 2004, was speaking on the latest leg of his Middle East tour.

Commenting on the looming U.S.-led war against Iraq, Lieberman said: "I hope we can avoid the war. I think that ... most people in America do."

"I also think it's the moment for President Bush to make the public know about the evidence he has on Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction – not just to U.N. inspectors, but also the American people and to the world, so if the war is necessary the people in the world will understand."