Posted on 02/05/2003 1:06:41 PM PST by HAL9000
BUCHAREST, Romania, Feb 05, 2003 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Iraq tried several times to buy from Romania equipment used for enriching uranium, but the attempts were foiled by the Romanian and U.S. secret services, the Romanian Foreign Minister said Wednesday.Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana was quoted by the private news agency Mediafax as saying Iraq made the failed attempts in 1995, 1996 and 1999, using intermediaries from other countries.
The plans failed because the Romanian secret services were notified about the real buyer by their U.S. counterparts, Geoana said in the Mediafax interview.
In a speech to the U.N.Security Council, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell accused Iraq of concealing weapons of mass destruction. He said Iraq approached firms in Romania, India, Russia and Slovenia for the purchase of a magnet production plant and other equipment which could be used in producing nuclear weapons.
Calls to the Romanian Foreign Ministry late Wednesday were not answered.
Iraq is required to eliminate long-range missiles, biological, chemical and nuclear weapons under a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted after the 1991 Gulf War. Iraq has insisted it has destroyed all such weapons.
In December 1998, the Romanian government acknowledged after initial denials tat state-owned Romanian companies had held negotiations starting in 1994 with the Iraqis on selling them weapons' parts, including short-range missile components and raw materials for the defense industry.
An attempt in 1998 to reactivate the talks with the Iraqis that had been halted in 1996 was foiled by Romanian and foreign intelligence services and negotiations broke down.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press, All rights reserved
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.