Inspectors Find Empty Warheads in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan 16, 2003 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- The United Nations said
it discovered empty chemical warheads in an ammunition depot south of Baghdad
Thursday and that the weapons had not been reported by Iraq. An Iraqi official
said the weapons were old ordnance listed in its December declaration.
The inspectors said they found 11 empty chemical warheads in "excellent"
condition at an ammunition storage area where they were inspecting bunkers built
in the late 1990s, a U.N. spokesman reported. They had not previously been
declared by Iraq, the spokesman said.
A 12th warhead, also of a 122 mm, was found that requires further evaluation,
according to the statement by Hiro Ueki, the spokesman for U.N. weapons
inspectors in Baghdad.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan, traveling with President Bush in
Scranton, Pa., said the administration was "aware of the reports and we look
forward to receiving information from the inspectors."
McClellan would not comment on how significant the find was.
"It's something that's going to have to be looked at really closely," said U.S.
deputy ambassador Richard Williamson. "It raises a lot of questions from the
declaration and other things."
Ueki told The Associated Press that the components were "a discovery. It was not
declared."
But Lt. Gen. Hossam Mohammed Amin, the chief Iraqi liaison officer to the
inspection teams, said they were short-range weapons imported in 1988 and
mentioned in Iraq's December declaration to the United Nations.
"I would like to express the astonishment of the Iraqi government about the fuss
made about the discovery by a U.N. inspection team. ... It is no more than a
storm in a teacup," Amin said in a news conference called hastily after the U.N.
issued its written statement.
"We shall remain patient and we shall continue to deal with all this calmly,"
Amin said.
Amin said the inspection team found the munitions in a sealed box that had not
been opened before and was covered by dust and bird droppings.
"When these boxes were opened, they found 122-mm rockets with empty warheads. No
chemical or biological warheads. Just empty rockets which are expired and
imported in 1988," Amin said, adding similar rockets were found by U.N.
inspectors in 1997.
Iraq's December declaration was to be a full and final report on its doomsday
weapons programs and how they had been disposed of.
Ueki's statement said inspectors used portable X-ray equipment for a preliminary
analysis of one of the warheads and collected samples for chemical testing.
"The warheads were in excellent condition and were similar to ones imported by
Iraq during the late 1980s," the statement said.
The discovery was made during a visit by inspectors to the Ukhaider Ammunition
Storage Area, 75 miles south of Baghdad. It was one of several sites inspectors
checked on Thursday.
U.S. warplanes bombed the Ukhaider depot on Feb. 14, 1991, damaging or
destroying an unspecified number of mustard gas shells, possibly creating a
plume of the chemical weapon. U.N. inspectors in 1997 said U.S. troops based in
Saudi Arabia may have been exposed to the gas, but the CIA said at the time that
the plume would have come no closer than 60 miles to U.S. troops.
Inspectors do not usually report specific discoveries, which made Thursday's
announcement unusual. It is up to the U.N. Security Council to determine if
Thursday's find would amount to a breach of U.N. resolutions.
On Dec. 7, a chemical team secured a dozen artillery shells filled with mustard
gas that had been inventoried by their predecessors in the 1990s. It was the
first batch of weapons of mass destruction brought under their control in the
new round of inspections in Iraq. Inspectors have said Iraq has failed to
support its claims to have destroyed missiles, warheads and chemical agents.
U.N. inspectors have said Iraq's final weapons declaration made in December
failed to support its claims to have destroyed missiles, warheads and chemical
agents such as VX nerve gas.
The United States and Britain doubt Iraq is committed to giving up its weapons
of mass destruction and have dispatched thousands more troops to the Gulf region
for a possible military showdown.
Washington has cited nine areas in which it said Iraq's declaration fails to
give a complete picture of weapons holdings. These include thousands of pounds
of unaccounted-for materials for producing anthrax, and the chemical precursors
for manufacturing mustard gas.
By HAMZA HENDAWI
Associated Press Writer
Copyright 2003 Associated Press, All rights reserved
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APO Priority=u
APO Category=1107
KEYWORD: BAGHDAD, Iraq
SUBJECT CODE: 1107
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