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To: pallmer who wrote (4184)	12/19/2002 3:50:35 PM
From: pallmer	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 29602

-- Powell: Iraq declaration riddled with deceptions -- (incorporates IRAQ-USA-POWELL) By Arshad Mohammed WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Iraq's arms declaration was riddled with deceptions and omissions and declared it in "material breach" of U.N. resolutions on Thursday He said if Baghdad persisted in "lying" and "dissembling" there would be no peaceful solution to the stand-off over its weapons programs, although he suggested that any U.S. decision on whether to go to war was several weeks away. Powell spoke after the two top U.N. weapons inspectors said there was little new in the 12,000-page document released by Iraq under a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding that it end weapons of mass destruction programs or face "serious consequences" likely to include war. Speaking to reporters, Powell argued that Iraq had flouted the letter and the spirit of U.N. resolution 1441 by failing to fully disclose details of its weapons programs. But he said the United States would work with the United Nations and consult allies over the next few weeks as it decides how to proceed. "Our experts have found it to be anything but currently accurate, full or complete," Powell told reporters as he discussed the Iraqi arms disclosure. "The Iraqi declaration ... totally fails to meet the resolution's requirements." "Iraq's response is a catalogue of recycled information and flagrant omissions," he said. "These are material omissions that in our view constitute another material breach." Iraq denies U.S. accusations that it has programs to make biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. Powell said: "There is no question that Iraq continues its pattern of noncooperation, its pattern of deception, its pattern of dissembling, its pattern of lying, and if that is going to be the way they continue through the weeks ahead, then we're not going to find a peaceful solution to this problem." 'NEW LIE' The U.S. use of the term "material breach" did not itself provide a trigger for war, but appeared to be a first U.S. step toward persuading the Security Council to declare it in "material breach" and provide a legal justification for war. Powell said "our path for the coming weeks" should include more study of the Iraqi declaration, intensified work by U.N. inspectors inside Iraq as well as greater efforts by them to interview Iraqi arms scientists outside the country. Among the omissions that Powell cited in the Iraqi document were its failure to address suspected stockpiles of anthrax, botulinum toxin, chemicals that are the building blocks for mustard gas, sarin gas and VX nerve gas as well as information about suspected Iraqi attempts to obtain aluminum tubes that could be used to enrich uranium for a nuclear weapons program. "Most brazenly of all, the Iraqi declaration denies the existence of any prohibited weapons programs at all," Powell said, calling the Iraqi declaration a "new lie." Security Council resolution 1441, which gave Iraq a last chance to disarm and was adopted unanimously on Nov. 8, has two requirements before the council can declare a material breach. It said false statements or omissions in the Iraqi declaration had to be coupled with a failure to comply with inspections. A senior U.S. official described the decision to use the phrase as a turning point, saying Washington had entered a "new phase" and the next milestone would be Jan. 27, the date by which U.N. inspectors must report to the Security Council. TROOP BUILD-UP U.S. officials and U.N. diplomats said they hoped to get briefed earlier by the inspectors, possibly in the first 10 days of January. Despite indications from the White House that the Bush administration will be patient, letting U.N. arms inspections run their course in coming weeks, the U.S. military is forging ahead with a build-up that could have more than 100,000 troops in the Gulf region in January or February. U.S. officials told Reuters 50,000 ground troops were being notified to be ready to move there early next year if Bush so orders. There are now 60,000 U.S. troops in the region, more than half Navy and Air Force personnel aboard aircraft carriers and at air bases in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. Much of the new deployment would be armored troops who would have access to hundreds of tanks and other equipment from radios to food rations stockpiled in the Gulf since the 1991 Gulf War. ((Reporting by Arshad Mohammed, editing by David Storey; Reuters Messaging: Arshad.Mohammed.reuters.com@reuters.net; +1 202 898 8300)) ((Xtra clients: Click on topnews.session.rservices.com to see Top News pages in multimedia Web format. If you cannot access the pages, ask your IT department to check your Internet firewall settings. For a technical advisory, click on <C9991>.)) (C) Reuters 2002. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world. nN19187432 19-Dec-2002 20:49:27 GMT Source RTRS - Reuters News