Posted on 03/11/2003 4:30:46 AM PST by Clive
The United States has accused Hans Blix, the chief United Nations weapons inspector, of burying potentially devastating revelations about new Iraqi weapons systems in his latest written report.
The systems include outlawed rocket warhead cluster bombs that could scatter poison gas or germs over invading troops, and an unmanned aerial drone capable of dispensing chemical and biological weapons.
Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, said omissions from Mr. Blix's verbal report to the UN Security Council last week raised questions that need to be answered.
"There are outstanding questions, and all members of the Security Council, I think it is safe to say, look forward to hearing the answers," he said.
A Western diplomat at the UN implied Mr. Blix's omission was not accidental.
"This was an attempt, for whatever reason, to bury absolutely key information about Iraq's arsenal," he said. "We want answers from Iraq, but also from Dr. Blix."
U.S. officials want the Security Council to question weapons inspectors about the discoveries at a closed-door session.
"It was information that was available last week and should be of concern to everyone," Colin Powell, the Secretary of State, said.
The United States is hoping the latest revelations will help persuade undecided nations on the Security Council to back a U.S.-British-Spanish proposal to set a March 17 deadline for Iraq to surrender suspected weapons of mass destruction or face attack.
Mr. Fleischer accused Mr. Blix of hiding the only mention of the two Iraqi weapon systems in a 200-page appendix added late on Friday to an extensive written report handed to the Security Council earlier on Friday.
Among the suspect weapons identified by inspectors were imported South African rocket warheads, allegedly reconfigured by Iraqi authorities to disperse exploding chemical or biological cluster bombs the size of soccer balls.
The New York Times reported yesterday that U.S. officials suspect Iraq may have produced at least 50 to 75 of the chemical warheads for ballistic missiles and that weapons inspectors have been unable to confirm their destruction.
The UN report, Unresolved Disarmament Issues: Iraq's Proscribed Weapons Programmes, concluded: "Iraq's interest in cluster munitions and the developments it did make may have progressed well beyond what it declared."
It also suggested gas gangrene had been the preferred agent to be used in the device as the substance is most effective when in contact with open wounds. Iraq produced 340 litres of the concentrate in 1990.
The unmanned drone, capable of dispensing chemical and biological weapons, may exceed the 150-kilometre flight range allowed under UN resolutions.
Mr. Fleischer said weapons inspectors in the 1990s found similar drones had been flight-tested with modified tanks to "spray simulated anthrax."
"There's no question the munitions are capable of dispensing chemical and biological weapons. There is also a concern about the [drones] being modified for this exact same purpose, which is the spraying of chemical and biological weapons. We're talking about weapons of mass destruction," he said.
On Friday, a revised weapons inspectors' document said: "Recent inspections have also revealed the existence of a drone with a wingspan of 7.45m that has not been declared by Iraq."
It said inspectors were investigating further Iraq's unmanned aerial vehicles as well as remotely piloted vehicles which Iraq did declare.
Mr. Blix yesterday said the drone is not a "smoking gun" and there is no proof yet that it is linked to illegal weapons programs.
"We are not yet at that stage at all," he told reporters after U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte raised the issue in the Security Council. "We are investigating what the drones are."
George W. Bush, the U.S. President, has warned an unmanned Iraqi drone could be used to launch an attack against the United States.
Yesterday, British television reported an Iraqi defector had said Saddam plans to use chemical weapons in the event of any invasion.
"A chemical attack is guaranteed," Sky News reported the 26-year-old from Saddam's Republican Guard as saying.
"We have been fully provided with complete protection gear, gas masks, first aid kit, injections," said the soldier, who allegedly defected from the city of Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq.
"We are sure about the chemical bombardment. In the last stage, he will use it as a last resort."
His goal has obviously been, given his hiding this materials,
to hide the WMD to empower terrorists to kill Americans.
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