Report says Iraq has new weapon
N.Y. Times says bomblets could strew biological agents
MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
NEW YORK, March 10 — U.N. inspectors have uncovered a new variety of Iraqi rocket that was apparently configured to strew bomblets filled with chemical and biological agents, The New York Times reported Monday, citing U.S. officials.
THE DISCLOSURE, if verified, could help bolster the U.S. case that Iraq remains in defiance of the U.N. order to disarm itself of weapons of mass destruction.
Washington and its allies are facing an uphill battle at the United Nations to convince other countries to support a draft resolution that declares that Iraq has failed to comply with a final opportunity to disarm and would pave the way for military action against Saddam.
The Times reported that the reconfigured rocket warheads appeared to be cobbled together from Iraq’s stockpiles of imported or home-built weapons, some which Iraq had used with both conventional and chemical warheads.
Meantime, the Times of London said that U.S. and British officials want U.N. weapons chief Hans Blix to reveal more details of an undeclared Iraqi unmanned aircraft, whose existence was only disclosed in a declassified 173-page document circulated by inspectors on Friday.
The Times said that Blix had failed to mention the drone in his oral report about Iraq inspections to the Security Council on Friday.
“It’s incredible,” The Times, quoted an unidentified senior diplomat from a swing voter on the council as saying. “The report is going to have a clearly defined impact on the people who are wavering. It’s a biggie.”
Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Sunday that if Saddam did not have a change of heart and agree to give up his suspected weapons of mass destruction —something he said he did not expect — then “the probability of war is rapidly increasing.”
The U.S. — backed by its strongest ally Britain — and France are squaring off against one another as they scramble to woo undecided Security Council members before this week’s expected U.N. vote on a U.S.-backed draft setting March 17 deadline for Iraq to disarm or face war.
BLIX’S REPORT
The Blix dossier, which was circulated Friday, also said that Baghdad may possess about 10,000 liters of anthrax, Scud missile warheads filled with deadly biological and chemical agents, and the drones capable of flying far beyond a 93-mile limit.
The report traced the history of Iraq’s weapons programs and outlines the many areas where questions remain, many old but some new.
Blix told the Security Council earlier in the day that he planned to cull items from the document and compile a list of key remaining disarmament tasks by the end of March that Iraq must complete.
The table of contents reflects the scope of the unanswered questions: missile technology, aerial bombs, spray devices and drone aircraft, mustard gas, sarin, chemical processing equipment, Botulinum toxin, ricin, genetic engineering and viral research — and the list goes on.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw described the document as “a shocking indictment of the record of Saddam Hussein’s deception and deceit, but above all, of the danger which he poses to the region and to the world.”
Blix has previously questioned Iraq’s reporting of its destruction of anthrax supplies from 1988 to 1991. He said Iraq declared that it produced 8,445 liters but cited evidence in the new report that it produced more.
“The strong presumption is that about 10,000 liters of anthrax was not destroyed and may still exist,” he said. In addition, “Iraq currently possesses the technology and materials, including fermenters, bacterial growth media and seed stock, to enable it to produce anthrax.”
Encarta: Iraq profile
“Many of the skilled personnel familiar with anthrax production have been transferred to civilian industries. There does not appear to be any choke points, which would prevent Iraq from producing anthrax on at least the scale of its pre-1991 level,” Blix said.
The chief inspector also expressed concern about Iraq’s program to build pilotless aircraft known as drones, citing intelligence reports that Saddam Hussein is developing vehicles with a range of 312 miles — far exceeding the 93-mile limit.
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