UN inspectors uncover proof of Saddam's nuclear bomb plans
By Con Coughlin
(Filed: 19/01/2003)
telegraph.co.uk
United Nations weapons inspectors have uncovered evidence that proves Saddam Hussein is trying to develop an arsenal of nuclear weapons, The Telegraph can reveal. The discovery was made following spot checks last week on the homes of two Iraqi nuclear physicists in Baghdad.
Hans Blix was made aware of the discovery last week
Acting on information provided by Western intelligence, the UN inspection teams discovered a number of documents proving that Saddam is continuing with his attempts to develop nuclear weapons, contrary to his public declarations that Iraq is no longer interested in producing weapons of mass destruction.
The revelation follows last Thursday's discovery of a number of warheads at an ammunition storage facility south of Baghdad that had been designed for carrying chemical and biological weapons.
Although UN officials say that they have no comment to make at present on the documents found at the scientists' homes, a Western diplomat closely involved with the investigation into Saddam's nuclear capability yesterday confirmed that the documents showed that Iraq was still attempting to develop its own atomic weapons.
"These are not old documents. They are new and they relate to on-going work taking place in Iraq to develop nuclear weapons," the official told The Telegraph.
"They had been hidden at the scientists' homes on Saddam's personal orders. Furthermore, no mention of this work is made in the Iraqi dossier that was submitted to the UN last December."
UN nuclear experts are this weekend continuing to examine the seized documents. Officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna have also been informed of the discovery.
The revelation that Saddam is working on nuclear weapons in defiance of the United Nations is further evidence that Iraq is failing to comply with the terms of UN Resolution 1441, which requires Baghdad to make a complete disclosure of its weapons of mass destruction programme.
A false or incomplete disclosure or a failure fully to co-operate with the inspectors would constitute a material breach of the resolution and result in military action against Baghdad.
Although Dr Hans Blix, the head of the UN inspections teams, was made aware of the discovery last week, he failed to mention it during talks with Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, and Jacques Chirac the French president.
British officials are particularly concerned that Mr Blix appears to be playing down the significance of last week's breakthroughs.
He indicated that he did not feel the discovery of the chemical warheads was an issue that needed to be reported to the Security Council.
The inspectors' discoveries follow a radical improvement in relations between UN officials and Western intelligence which had been reluctant to hand over sensitive information for fear that it might fall into the hands of Iraqi officials, thereby risking the lives of agents working in Iraq.
In particular intelligence officials were keen that a team of UN inspectors visit the homes of two Iraqi nuclear scientists living in the outskirts of Baghdad.
This followed information from high ranking officials at Iraq's Ministry of Military Industrialisation (MIO) that suggested Saddam had ordered that top secret nuclear documents should be hidden at the homes of scientists working on the project.
As one inspection team discovered the empty chemical warheads, nuclear weapons experts were cordoning off the street where two scientists lived in Baghdad's al-Ghazalia neighbourhood.
They searched the homes of Faleh Hassan, a specialist in laser equipment, and Dr Shaker alJibouri, a nuclear scientist. Inspectors also accompanied the scientists to sites known to have been used for nuclear research.
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Iraq vows to boost cooperation with UN arms inspectors
Monday January 20, 11:57 PM
asia.news.yahoo.com
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq pledged to boost its cooperation with UN disarmament inspectors in an accord struck before they deliver a key report to the Security Council next week that could be the lynchpin for a US-led war.
The announcement of the deal by UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Committee (UNMOVIC) chief Hans Blix was tempered as he said they had yet to discuss several "substantive issues" related to anthrax, Scud missiles and the lethal VX nerve gas.
The United States meanwhile gave its strong backing to mooted plans to offer Iraqi President Saddam Hussein exile to avoid a war.
Blix said after meeting with Iraqi foreign ministry officials the 10-point accord covers access to all sites, including private homes, encourages Iraqi scientists to accept private interviews and appoints a team to search for warheads.
"We have gone a long way on that but there have been hitches on it and some of these hitches were solved today," Blix told reporters.
Talks since Sunday between Iraqi officials and Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), focused on "stocktaking of inspections" and issues raised by them, said Iraqi presidential advisor Amer al-Saadi, who is in charge of Iraq's disarmament dossier.
"Access has been obtained to all sites. This will continue. The Iraqi side will encourage persons to accept access also to private sites," Saadi said after a 24-hour mission by the chief UN inspectors.
A list of scientists already submitted would be "supplemented in accordance with advice" from the inspectors," under the accord.
However Blix warned that major issues remained outstanding with Iraq.
"There are outstanding issues which we were not able to solve, substantive issues related to anthrax, VX (nerve gas), Scud missiles. We did not discuss that yet."
UNMOVIC's predecessor, the UN Special Commission on disarmament (UNSCOM), concluded in 1998 that 200 tonnes of precursor chemicals for VX production remained unaccounted for in Iraq.
It also warned Iraq could have a number of Scud-type missiles, with enough anthrax and VX, a highly toxic nerve agent first developed in the 1940s, to cause huge damage.
These were among the main elements which led UNSCOM to conclude Iraq had failed to cooperate, sparking US and British bombing raids.
Blix and ElBaradei said on their arrival here that war was not inevitable, but demanded greater cooperation because "time is running out" ahead of their first status report to the Security Council, on January 27, since the resumption of inspections.
US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice had said the upcoming UN report would probably mark the beginning of a "last phase" for Iraq.
While stepping up its military preparations, the United States has offered strong support to moves to convince the Iraqi president and his top aides to seek exile.
Both Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday they would encourage exile coupled with an amnesty.
"To avoid a war I would personally recommend that some provision be made so that the senior leadership and their families could be provided haven in some other country," Rumsfeld said.
"I think that that would be a fair trade to avoid a war."
Time magazine reported last week that Iraq's neighbors hope to orchestrate Saddam's ouster with a broad amnesty for senior officials.
Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Syria, and Saudi Arabia are set to send their foreign ministers to a meeting called by Turkey to try to settle the crisis, although there has been no official mention of an exile plot. |
