Iraq's decision in principle to destroy its banned al-Samoud 2 missiles is "a very significant piece of real disarmament," Blix said Friday, February 28, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Blix's office said late Thursday, February 27, that it had received a letter stating "in principle that Iraq accepts the request for the destruction of the missiles and other items listed."

Blix told reporters Friday that he had replied to the letter, signed by General Amir al-Saadi, chief scientific adviser to Iraq President Saddam Hussein.

"There are very many of these missiles, and a lot of items that pertain to them which have to be destroyed," he said.

"So this is a very significant piece of real disarmament," said Blix, chairman of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC).

Blix said his director of planning and operations, Demetrius Perricos, was in Baghdad seeking clarification about details of the missile destruction, which is to start on Saturday, March 1.

"Maybe on Sunday we will have more to say," Blix said.

On February 21, Blix wrote to al-Saadi stating that al-Samoud missiles were prohibited under Security Council resolutions and ordering the Iraqi government to make arrangements to begin their demolition under UNMOVIC supervision on March 1.

Blix noted that in test firings, the missiles had exceeded 150 kilometers, the limit imposed by the council in Resolution 687, which defined the terms of the Gulf War ceasefire in April 1991.

Iraqi officials countered that the rockets used in test firings did not carry guidance systems or warheads, and said the range of a fully operational al-Samoud 2 would not breach the limit.

Resolution 687 did not specify whether the limit applied to a loaded or unloaded missile.

U.S. Cries "Deception"

The move "represents the deception that we had predicted," said Fleischer

Iraq's commitment to destroy its banned Al-Samoud 2 missiles is "deception" and the United States wants "complete and total disarmament," the White House said Friday.

Ari Fleischer, President George W. Bush's spokesman, claimed the Iraqi move "represents the deception that we had predicted."

The United States wants to "lead a coalition of the willing to disarm Saddam Hussein," Fleischer added.

Bush said Thursday that the Iraqi leader would reverse course and start destroying the banned missiles, but he stressed that doing so would not save him or his regime.

"Should we be forced to commit our troops because of his failure to disarm, the mission will be complete disarmament, which will mean regime change," he said.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bush’s staunch ally in the war scheme, echoed the American voice saying he knew Iraq would comply with the U.N. order.

"The moment I heard earlier in the week that Saddam Hussein was saying he would not destroy the missiles was the moment I knew that later in the week he would announce, just before Dr Blix reported, that he would indeed destroy these missiles," said Blair.

France, Germany Urge Brake On U.S. Slide Towards War

"What the U.S. is saying is progressively sliding from a logic of disarmament to that of regime change," cautioned de Villepin

Satisfied with the Iraqi decision, France and Germany called on Washington to stop an accelerating "slide" towards military action, asserting war would be wrong just when U.N. inspectors are producing results.

The two key anti-war countries reiterated that a peaceful solution to the Iraqi crisis is still possible.

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin also questioned Washington's strategy, saying it appeared to be heading towards a "remodeling of the Middle East."

"It is clear today that the American military timetable is not in step with the timetable of the international community," he said in an interview published in a number of European newspapers.

"We can clearly see that what the U.S. is saying is progressively sliding from a logic of disarmament to that of regime change and even, more broadly, to a remodeling of the Middle East," he charged.

De Villepin, speaking after the Iraqi missile move was confirmed, called it "an important step in the process of Iraq's peaceful disarmament.

"It confirms that the inspections are yielding results," he said in Paris after meeting his Greek counterpart George Papandreou, whose country currently holds the EU presidency.

"It would be paradoxical for a resolution to open the doors to war at a time when inspections are producing results," he said in the newspaper interview.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer warned bluntly that it would be wrong to launch a war against Iraq just when U.N. inspections are producing substance.

"I don't understand why this process should be ended now, just when it is beginning to show concrete results... and that one is reaching for the measure of last resort," he said in Brussels.

France and Germany have led opposition to a second U.N. resolution, tabled by the U.S., Britain and Spain, which would in effect give a green light for war on Iraq.