BAGHDAD,
February 23 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Iraq is studying UN
demands to destroy a banned missile and hopes to resolve the issue
without U.S. intervention, Iraq's top disarmament liaison officer said
Sunday, February 23, adding that the destruction of Iraq's Al-Samoud
missiles as demanded by the UN will adversely affect the country's
defense capabilities.
"We
are serious in investigating this issue," General Hossam Mohammad
Amin told a press conference, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.
"We
hope this will be solved without American or British intervention ...
those who have evil intentions."
UN
chief weapons inspector Hans Blix wrote to Baghdad on Friday, February
21, warning it to destroy its banned Al-Samoud 2 missiles, which have a
range exceeding the 150 kilometre (93-mile) limit, starting from March
1.
Iraqi
officials say they have about 100 al-Samoud 2 missiles, of which 50 have
been delivered to the army.
"The
letter is currently being studied," said Amin, the director general
of the National Monitoring Directorate which liaises with the UN weapons
inspectors.
"We
have no intention to challenge the scientific judgment, the methodology
of the UN," Amin said, although he admitted Baghdad had not
expected the missile to be banned.
But
he added: "We hope the UN will listen to our point of view ... we
have to sit down together. It should be resolved by technical meetings,
by exchanging points of view."
He
stressed that Iraq was trying to work faster with the inspection
process.
"We
are still talking with the inspectors. Maybe what is meant by more
cooperation is to work more quickly and that is what we are trying to
do," he said.
Amin
said Iraq had invited the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection
Commission (UNMOVIC) to discuss outstanding questions on anthrax and VX
toxic agents.
"Iraq
invited UNMOVIC to hold technical discussions on the suspended issues
concerning the anthrax and VX after identifying technical methods by
Iraq to verify quantitatively the destruction of those agents.
"UNMOVIC
accepted this invitation and a technical delegation will arrive in
Baghdad on March 2 for this purpose," he said.
Amin
said Iraq had also notified UNMOVIC it has started excavating at sites
where Baghdad says it destroyed biological weapons "to prove the
quantitative and qualitative accounting concerning those weapons."
Iraq
wants Arab summit postponed
 |
|
Iraqi
officials carry out a static test on an al-Samoud 2 missile at the
Rafah military facility, west of Baghdad February 23
|
Meanwhile,
Iraq officially requested Sunday that an Arab summit slated for March 1
in Egypt be postponed till after March 14, an Iraqi diplomat in Cairo
said.
The
Iraqi delegation to the Arab League submitted the request to the
secretariat of the Cairo-based pan-Arab group, the diplomat, who is a
member of the delegation, told AFP.
The
delegation asked the Arab League to convey the demand to the 21 other
members of the organization, he said, adding that Iraq has requested
that the summit be held after March 14.
French
Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin on February 14 requested that the
UN Security Council hold on March 14 a meeting at foreign minister level
to assess the developments in the Iraqi crisis.
The
Arab summit, concentrating on the Iraqi crisis, has been tentatively set
for March 1 in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Iraq
explained in its request to the Arab League that Iraqi officials are
very busy preparing the dossiers to be submitted to chief UN arms
inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, the diplomat said.
According
to the diplomat, the Iraqi document said Blix, who heads the UN
Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, and ElBaradei,
director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, are to report to the
UN Security Council again on March 14, but this has not been announced
by the United Nations.
The
Iraqi document argued that "the situation will become clearer"
after March 14, the diplomat said, adding that "some Arab
countries" he did not name were in favor of Baghdad's request.
An
Arab diplomat who requested anonymity said the backing for the Iraqi
request came from Syria, Lebanon and some North African members of the
Arab League.
An
Arab League official said earlier that 16 members of the Arab League had
agreed to the summit on March 1, which would be preceded by a foreign
ministers' meeting on February 27 also in Sharm el-Sheikh.
The
six remaining members -- mostly north African countries -- would give
their response shortly, the official added, requesting anonymity.
Arab
states abandoned plans for an emergency summit on Iraq in late February
that was initially proposed by Egypt, and on Saturday Egyptian Foreign
Minister Ahmed Maher accused some Arab states of trying to delay the
planned new conference.
Syria
sees no need for new UN Iraq text despite US request for support
On
a related separate development, the sole Arab state on the UN Security
Council, Syria, said it saw no need for a new Iraq resolution despite a
request for its support from US Secretary of State Colin Powell Sunday.
Syrian
Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara said his government considered a
"new resolution unjustified no matter how moderate its
wording".
"Adoption
of such a resolution would provide the warmongers in the United States
and elsewhere with a pretext to attack Iraq," Shara told the
official SANA news agency.
"We
have not yet exhausted all peaceful means to implement Resolution 1441
... which set no deadline for the work of UN inspectors," said
Shara, whose country supported the November text which paved the way for
the UN disarmament mission to resume its work after a nearly four-year
break.
Three
months on, the inspection teams were carrying out their work
"without difficulty, so Iraq's disarmament by peaceful means is
still possible," said Shara.
The
Syrian foreign minister's opposition to a new resolution came despite a
telephone call from Powell in which he sought Damascus's support when
Washington presents a new draft to the Security Council in the next
couple of days.
"Mr.
Powell said the United States was going to present a second resolution
to the Security Council and said he hoped Syria would vote in
favor," the official news agency reported.
Powell
set out "U.S. doubts about Iraqi cooperation and its impatience
with Iraqi prevarication", SANA said.
Shara
also received a phone call from his Spanish counterpart, Ana Palacio,
whose country is also a UN Security Council member, and a key supporter
of U.S. war threats against Iraq, SANA said.
U.S.
President George W. Bush said Saturday that the United States would
present a new resolution early this week claiming that it would
"set out in clear and simple terms that Iraq is not complying
with" previous disarmament resolutions.
He
said he was giving the world body a "last chance" to prove its
relevance by passing the text within less than two months.
