BAGHDAD,
February 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – U.S.
intelligence information has failed to help U.N. inspectors searching
for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, according to diplomats in
Baghdad Saturday, February 22.
During
regular meetings with diplomats, the disarmament experts have hinted
that they needed more precise and up-to-date information, the
diplomats said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"We
have found nothing. If there is something, we need precise
information," one U.N. inspector said in a meeting with the
diplomat, who disclosed details of the session to AFP.
"The
Americans did not give anything," said another diplomat. Hiro
Ueki, spokesman of the U.N. inspectors in Iraq, was not available for
comment.
Relaying
the same meaning, Britain's left-wing Daily Mirror reported
Saturday that a senior U.N. arms inspector has branded intelligence
from the United States on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction
as "garbage."
The
inspectors said that "undeniable" evidence that Saddam
Hussein was double-dealing over disarmament was "circumstantial,
outdated or completely wrong".
The
weapons team said they found “NOTHING” at an alleged nuclear
research site shown in satellite pictures to the U.N., and
“NOTHING” at a Saddam palace where they were given precise
co-ordinates of incriminating evidence, The Mirror said.
Other
claims relating to nuclear research and missiles were also fake.
Claiming the inspectors had been fed "garbage after garbage after
garbage" by President Bush's spy chiefs, one said: "We've
better things to do than run around the country chasing bogus
evidence."
Iraq
has repeatedly denied possession of mass destruction weapons and U.N.
inspections, on for some three months so far, failed to prove
otherwise.
The
slap down came as Tony Blair said he would defy any peace plea from
the Pope, who he met later on Saturday.
Stepping
up the "moral" case for war on Iraq, Foreign Secretary Jack
Straw said that reports showed Saddam was planning to use chemical and
bio-weapons against a range of targets.
A
Week To Start Destroying Missiles
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Blix
gave Iraq “a week” to destroy its missiles
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The
development came as Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix set Iraq a
timetable for disarming with an order to start destroying the stock of
banned missiles within a week.
By
imposing a deadline of March 1 for Baghdad to begin the demolition of
its Al-Samud 2 missiles and warheads, Blix has thrown down the
gauntlet for Iraq to provide rapid proof of its good faith and
willingness to comply with U.N. demands on disarmament.
The
ultimatum is viewed as a key test of the assertion by diplomatic
sources in Baghdad that "the Iraqis are ready to respond to all
of Blix's demands".
However,
it leaves the Iraqi regime facing a dilemma, observers said. Getting
rid of the missiles would deprive Iraq of a key arm in its defense
against a U.S.-led attack, while failure to destroy could be used by
Washington and London as a justification for war, AFP reported.
The
United States and Britain are planning to submit a new draft
resolution to the U.N. Security Council, probably as early as Monday,
to give them the authority to attack if Iraq is not complying with
U.N. demands.
Blix's
order came in a four-page letter "concerning the destruction of
the Al-Samud 2 missiles and associated equipment" which was
delivered to the Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammed
al-Douri. A copy was sent to the Security Council, spokesman Ewen
Buchanan said.
Earlier
this week, the head of one of Iraq's missile factories said 50
Al-Samuds had been delivered to the Iraqi army and another 50 were on
the assembly line.
Blix
told the U.N. Security Council February 14 that two declared variants
of the Al-Samud were banned under Council Resolution 687, which
imposed a 150-kilometer (93-mile) limit on the range of Iraqi
ballistic missiles.
The
resolution, which defined the terms of the Gulf War ceasefire in April
1991, required Iraq to scrap missiles beyond that range - along with
its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons - under international
supervision.
