Iraq's firing on U.S. and British aircraft in no-fly zones not violation of UN resolution, says Annan

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, November 19 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Iraq did not breach a tough U.N. disarmament resolution by firing on U.S. and British warplanes this week, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said Tuesday, November 19, during a visit to the Balkans.

Annan said the U.N. Security Council would not view the ground fire at coalition warplanes enforcing "no-fly" zones in Iraq as a "material breach" which could trigger war under the terms of U.N. resolution 1441, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

"Let me say I don't think the Security Council will say that this is in contravention of the resolution," he told reporters during a trip to a village in the southern Yugoslav province of Kosovo.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Monday, November 18, that the Iraqi firing constituted a violation of the Security Council resolution and that Washington could use it as a first step toward military intervention.

However, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld later said that "someone's characterization of that as something that would trigger an action is incorrect."

"We've made our position clear on the issue," White House national security spokesman Sean McCormack said Tuesday as U.S. President George W. Bush made his way to Prague for a NATO summit clouded by possible action against Iraq.

Repeatedly asked whether Washington would seek action from the U.N. Security Council, McCormack would only say: "We have that option."

U.S. warplanes patrolling the so-called no-fly zones – an action not authorized by any U.N. declaration -- came under fire Monday for the fifth time since the passage of the disarmament resolution on Friday, November 8.

Speaking later at a press conference here, Annan also said the Security Council was prepared to consider Iraqi concerns about the timeframe it has been given to declare its alleged weapons of mass destruction.

UN chief arms inspector Hans Blix reported "progress" Monday during the first day of his mission to launch new arms inspections under Resolution 1441.

Iraqis pledged "full cooperation and full transparency" with inspectors, says Baradei

One of the topics discussed during Monday's meeting was the December 8 deadline for Iraq to declare its weapons programs, according to Blix's spokesmam Ewen Buchanan.

Iraqi officials have pledged to give "full cooperation and full transparency" to disarmament inspectors, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohammad El-Baradei said Tuesday.

"All Iraqi officials have committed to provide us full cooperation and full transparency," he told a press conference after a second day of talks in Baghdad.

"The Iraqis said they will do everything that is humanly possible to cooperate with the two organizations," he said referring to the IAEA and the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC).

Blix and ElBaradei met with Foreign Minister Naji Sabri late Tuesday followed by talks with the same Iraqi officials they saw in a first round the previous night.

"We have pledged to the Iraqi side to progress towards resolving the Iraqi issue," El-Baradei said after the meeting.

A top adviser to President Saddam Hussein told reporters Iraq would meet the December 8 deadline to issue a report declaring all its weapons programs.

Asked if Iraq would hand over the report in time, General Amer al-Saadi, a weapons expert, said: "Yes, within 30 days as the resolution says, a report from Iraq will be submitted and all the files, nuclear, chemical, biological and missile files."

"The Iraqis said they are compiling the declaration and committed themselves to producing it by December 8," El-Baradei confirmed.

UN Security Council Resolution 1441 gives Iraq until December 8 to make a complete and accurate declaration of its alleged programs to develop chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles and other delivery systems.

Baradei noted at the press conference that Iraq has repeatedly affirmed it no longer has any weapons of mass destruction.

"But we told them that many governments are convinced that the Iraqis still have some weapons of mass destruction left," Blix said.

Disarmament in the areas of "missile, biological and chemical weapons has not so far been convincingly done," he added.

"We found through analysis that many questions remained open."

Blix arrived in Baghdad Monday leading an advance team to kick-start arms inspections armed with sweeping powers under Resolution 1441.

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