UN Inspectors Find 12 Empty Chemical Warheads -- Fox News Alert

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[nwctwx]

Breaking on FOX News, more Information soon...

[Chemist_Geek]

They need to put him and all his relatives on a plane to Arizona, then ask questions.

[PhiKapMom]

From what I have pieced together, the scientist that went with the inspectors this morning with a large box of papers led the inspectors to a mound of dirt in the dessert at a storage area. If I were guessing, this mound contained these warheads.

Just seems a logical conclusion.

[duk]

Good post! 12 shells in a nation like Iraq is like a cop giving a speeding ticket for 5 mph over. Yes it's illegal, and a violation of the mandates, but if that's all they have found to this point they are really scraping the bottom of the barrel.

[xzins]

He sounded like Micael York the actor: did he have silicon lips like Mike and Mick Jagger?

They're saying that the warheads are a clear violation of previous resolutions.

The issue is if they were revealed in the 12000 page document.

Presumably, chem warheads are used for chemical attacks.

[Dog]

I got Feb. 1st in the freeper pool.....

[areafiftyone]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.N. weapons inspectors Thursday found a number of empty chemical warheads and another one that is still being evaluated, and the warheads are in "excellent condition," according to a U.N. spokesman.

Inspectors also visited private homes for the first time Thursday, as the chief U.N. inspector described the situation in Iraq as "very tense and very dangerous."

A team from the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) made the warhead discovery at the Ukhaider ammunition storage area, where they went to inspect a large group of bunkers constructed in the late 1990s.

The inspectors found 11 empty 122 mm chemical warheads and one warhead that requires further evaluation. The warheads are similar to ones imported by Iraq during the late 1980s, the spokesman said.

The UNMOVIC team used portable X-ray equipment to analyze one of the warheads and collected samples for chemical testing.

Earlier, U.N. team searched homes owned by Iraqi scientists in the hunt for evidence of weapons of mass destruction, Iraqi officials said.

The homes are located in the Al-Ghazaliyah district in Baghdad and are not listed as declared sites by Iraq, suggesting that inspectors may have been working on an intelligence tip.

Blix: Iraq violated import ban

After meeting with European Union officials in Brussels, Belgium, chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix told reporters Iraq has illegally imported arms-related material as recently as 2002, but it is not yet clear whether the material is related to weapons of mass destruction.

"It's clear they have violated the bans of the United Nations in terms of imports," Blix said. The imported items include missile parts, CNN's Richard Roth reported.

U.S. officials reacted positively to Blix's comments.

"The evidence is mounting, and while inspectors went in with a stiff upper lip it is now more clear by the day that things are not going nearly as well as the public has been led to believe," one official said.

President Bush, in a speech Thursday in Scranton, Pennsylvania, repeated his warning that time is running out for Saddam Hussein to comply with demands to disarm.

"So far the evidence hasn't been very good that he is disarming. And time is running out." Bush said. "At some point in time the United States' patience will run out."

"We try our best to make the inspections effective," Blix said, "so that we can have a peaceful solution." But, he warned, "the other major option, as you know, is the one we've seen taking shape in the form of an armed action against Iraq."

Diplomats: Iraq must be 'proactive'

Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, are due to visit Iraq next week ahead of their report to the U.N. Security Council on January 27. Blix has said he plans to tell Iraq to submit new weapons evidence.

After the talks in Brussels with Blix, the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana expressed his solidarity with the chief weapons inspector.

Solana told reporters: "He (Blix) has conveyed to me his concern that the cooperation with Saddam Hussein, the cooperation with Iraq, is not sufficient.

"We are demanding a more proactive cooperation from the regime of Saddam Hussein so that the world, the Security Council, the inspectors, are convinced that he has disarmed from all weapons of mass destruction."

ElBaradei, speaking after two days of talks with Russian officials, also used the term "proactive" to describe what is required of Iraq.

"What they ought to do is come forward" provide documents or physical evidence to support the conclusion that the country no longer has weapons of mass destruction, he said.

"This kind of proactive approach is not there. And that's why I said they need to shift gears," ElBaradei said. "As long as we can continue to go around the country and come to the conclusion, 'well we are not 100 percent sure,' this is not good enough for the Security Council."

There remains a dispute over a timetable for the inspections.

The White House wants the January 27 report from Blix and ElBaradei to be a major threshold for deciding whether Iraq is complying with the U.N. demands. Blix has cited previous U.N. resolutions and said he will report to the Security Council again in March.

A senior White House official said Thursday that, "in a climate of delays, resistance and obstruction we don't see the value" in indefinitely extending the work of the inspectors.

In another development, sources said that during a meeting Tuesday, U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice pressed Blix and other senior U.N. officials to demand that Iraq allow certain scientists and their families to travel outside the country for interviews about weapons of mass destruction programs.

The move would reflect a more muscular interpretation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1441, which said that inspectors "may at their discretion conduct interviews inside or outside of Iraq, (and) may facilitate the travel of those interviewed and family members outside of Iraq."

To date, U.N. weapons inspectors have only asked Iraqi scientists whether they would be willing to be interviewed outside of the country, or interviewed without the presence of Iraqi government representatives. None have agreed so far, U.N. officials said.

[lepton]

An empty warhead is not a "viable" weapon.

If we can demonstrate the government was trying to hide this, then we have a part of the criteria to resume the attacks. If Iraq might have "lost" these, then we're gonna have to wait some more. It's looking like the evidence is leading towards more discoveries, but well - WE lose much more than that.

[PhiKapMom]

According to Fox it has only been the last two days and now they have found these already.

That mound of dirt they are talking about is being looked at now by the scientists.

Saying this is only the tip of the iceberg in Iraq!

[Petronski]

Shut the F*** up

[Dog Gone]

No, this isn't the mysterious mound. This was a different team at a different location.

The US obviously wanted the inspectors to find the smoking gun now.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

Stfu?

I believe it means 'Shut the f*** up'.

[xzins]

The iraqis were to destroy their chem capability.

They'll say: "See, we destroyed them. We covered them with dirt. (ahh...but were they wrapped in plastic or encased?). Are buried warheads able to be cleaned and reused?"

[PhiKapMom]

Fox is reporting our intelligence is picking up movement of trucks carrying paperwork and other things around the country. Looks like we are getting close. CIA is providing the intelligence directly to UN weapons inspectors.

You may be right on!

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

they are really scraping the bottom of the barrel.

More like the tip of the iceberg.

[Frank_Discussion]

I forgot that I asked you what "Stfu" meant, and thought you were telling me to, well, STFU... LOL! Gotta keep reading closely during these more exciting times!

[Petronski]

In #89, I am telling you the meaning of stfu. I am not telling you to do that. ;)

[Mo1]

I got Feb. 1st in the freeper pool.....

LOL .. I picked Jan 16th at 4:15

I still got some time left

[TShaunK]

Just when the Dems think he is finished>>>>He's Back!! PRESIDENT BUSH!!!

[grimalkin]

Sky News:

UN weapons inspectors have found empty chemical warheads in Iraq.

The warheads were "in excellent condition" and one requires "further evaluation" a UN spokesman said.

They were discovered during an inspection of a storage area in Iraq, the UN spokesman said in Baghdad.

The spokesman did not give any estimate of the significance of the find during an inspection of the Ukhaider Ammunition Storage Area.

He said an inspection team had gone there to inspect a large group of bunkers constructed in the late 1990s.

"During the course of their inspection, the team discovered 11 empty 122 mm chemical warheads and one warhead that requires further evaluation," the spokesman said in a statement.

"The warheads were in excellent condition and were similar to ones imported by Iraq during the late 1980s.

"The team used portable X-Ray equipment to conduct preliminary analysis of one of the warheads and collected samples for chemical testing," the statement said.

There was no immediate comment from the Iraqi - which insists it has no weapons of mass destruction.

The United States and Britain have accused Iraq of lying, saying it has been hiding them.

Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix had earlier described the condition in Iraq as "very tense".

[ewing]

Mark Fuhrman put them there? Man, that guy really gets around!