Posted on 03/04/2005 7:45:15 PM PST by TexKat
UNITED NATIONS - Satellite imagery has revealed that approximately 90 sites in Iraq subject to U.N. inspection and monitoring have been stripped of equipment or razed, the chief U.N. weapons inspector said in a report Friday.
Demetrius Perricos said experts from the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, which he leads, also noted repairs and new construction at 10 sites.
The commission, known as UNMOVIC, previously reported the looting and razing of sites that contained equipment and materials that were subject to inspection because of their potential for use in chemical or biological weapons or the long-range missiles to deliver them. Friday's report to the U.N. Security Council was the first to provide information on the extent of the disappearance and destruction.
While the U.S.-led military is in Iraq and the chief U.S. arms hunter Charles Duelfer found no evidence of weapons programs, the insecurity in the country - and the disappearance of equipment and the reappearance of some pieces in scrapyards in Jordan and the Netherlands - has raised concerns.
U.N. inspectors checked 411 sites in the months before they left Iraq ahead of the U.S.-led war in March 2003. The U.S. government has barred the inspectors from returning, but UNMOVIC experts have acquired and analyzed post-war satellite imagery of 353 sites, "including those considered the most important," the report said.
Experts determined that 70 of the sites sustained bomb damage, the commission said, and about 90 of the 353 sites with sensitive equipment and materials were stripped or razed.
Perricos also referred to Duelfer's Oct. 6 report, which said his Iraq Survey Group found no weapons of mass destruction, discrediting President Bush's stated rationale for invading Iraq.
Duelfer had also expressed concern about biological material that could be used in weapons and was unaccounted for - an issue that Perricos addressed again.
Perricos noted in Friday's report that the Iraqis had handed over 90 unopened vials of biological agents to U.N. weapons inspectors, but declared that 13 vials had been used, some in its biological weapons program.
Both Duelfer and Perricos raised the issue of what happened to residue in the used vials, which can be used to make more biological material. Perricos recommended addressing the issue by monitoring for "any possible future activity associated with biological weapon agent production or dsignificant related laboratory research work."
UNMOVIC's quarterly report, which will be discussed by the council on Tuesday, was released amid reports that the United States has quietly started low-key talks on ending the commission's work. Regardless of what happens to UNMOVIC, however, it is highly likely that the Security Council will insist that Iraq remain under some form of weapons monitoring.
American officials had said repeatedly that the United States would not formally discuss UNMOVIC's future until Duelfer finished his work.
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov, a member of UNMOVIC's board of commissioners, has said Duelfer's report and the recent Iraqi elections are indications that it is time for the Security Council to discuss the future of U.N. inspections. Friday's report also noted that the commissioners recognized that UNMOVIC's mandate was an issue for the Security Council.
UNMOVIC is the outgrowth of a U.N. inspections process created after the 1991 Gulf War in which invading Iraqi forces were ousted from Kuwait. Its staff are considered the only weapons experts specifically trained in biological weapons and missile disarmament.
Separately, the report noted that the United Nations asked commission experts to create a set of enhanced images so that the Indian Ocean areas affected by the Dec. 26 tsunami could be mapped and analyzed.
Ping.
Ping
That is the question?
So if there are questions about the sites while under U.S. occupation, it's newsworthy. When there were questions about the sites under Saddam, it could be smoothed over by his henchmen.
Got it.
I would say that about covers it.
(Major find. Thanks for the ping.)
It's taken the UN almost TWO YEARS to make this announcement? Can anyone spell "c-o-v-e-r-u-p"? What this story tells me is that there's a heck of a lot more information out there about Saddam's WMD program than we've been told, by the UN, and by our own intelligence agencies. Come on, folks...Let's hear the entire story!
BTTT
Ya think!
It's been a long time since you dummies had the balls to even visit Iraq.
I would assume that many of your sites have been converted, razed, or are awaiting demo.
Why don't ya come see?
Is this true? Would the US be an advocate of this? The US led coalition is destroying munitions at dizzying speed. Why would we (and Iraq) want the UN sniffing around?
Bump for morning coffee.
I thought there was no such equipment there in the first place? How could it then be looted?
Suggest checking:
www.washingtontimes.com
Russia tied to Iraq's missing arms
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published October 28, 2004
http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20041028-122637-6257r
Re: The US talks and SC voting
"The chief UN weapons inspector, Demetrius Perricos, who is the commission's executive chairman, confirmed that the Americans had "started informal consultations" on the commission's future."
"UN diplomats said they did not expect any Security Council action in March or April, but possibly in May."
"The United States wants to get rid of the commission but France wants to keep a roster of chemical, biological and missile inspectors who could be called on in emergencies, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/02/27/news/inspect.html
Wonder how they are going to spin this?
Well there is this:
Perricos also referred to Duelfer's Oct. 6 report, which said his Iraq Survey Group found no weapons of mass destruction,discrediting President Bush's stated rationale for invading Iraq.
Now if the sites were stripped , looted and razed , after the UN inspectors left and before we got there, no wonder we didn't find anything,....so just maybe president Bush was NOT discredited.....besides we invaded for more reasons than what the leftists WANT EVERONE to believe.....
Decipher this one....
FYI, UNMOVIC has concern that small factories in Iraq may have capability to produce WMD. They empathetically state it won't "of military concern" but may be usefull to non-state actors. Well duh, that may be a problem. It's in their recently posted quarterly report.
Satellite photos of Iraq show unexplained construction - 2002
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.