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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lil Knubber who wrote (929)	1/11/2003 8:59:18 AM
From: Lil Knubber	Respond to of 25898

U.N. Experts Interview Key Iraq Scientist on Tubes Fri Dec 27, 3:35 PM ET Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo! By Huda Majeed Saleh BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.N. arms experts interviewed a key Iraqi scientist and inspected three suspect sites on Friday as the U.N. refugee chief warned a war with Iraq would be a human calamity and must be launched only with U.N. approval. Speaking one month before the arms inspectors submit their final report on the search for banned weapons, United Nations (news - web sites) High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers raised the spectre that bacteriological or chemical weapons could be used in a war. "Believe me, it will be a disaster from a humanitarian perspective," he said in a BBC interview. U.N. spokesman Hiro Ueki said inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Iraq had interviewed a metallurgist from a high-profile state company, but the scientist, Dr Kathim Jamil, denied any links to Iraq's nuclear program. "He provided technical details of a military program," Ueki said in a statement in Baghdad. "This program has attracted considerable attention as a possible prelude to a clandestine nuclear program." Ueki said the scientist's answers "will be of great use in completing the IAEA assessment" of Iraq's nuclear program. But Jamil said he had not provided information about a military program. "I have nothing to do with any programs...I'm a metallurgist working on restoring aluminum tubes," he told Iraqi television. The Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Jamil was a specialist in the use of aluminum tubes used to produce 81-mm missiles with a range of 10 km (six miles). It said the interview, at Baghdad's al-Rasheed Hotel, was attended by an Iraqi monitoring official and lasted one hour. The United States and Britain have raised the alarm in recent months over alleged attempts by Iraq to buy aluminum tubes that could be used to process uranium. Iraq denied the charges and said it had had the tubes since the 1980s. CALL TO PREVENT WAR Lubbers urged the international community to prevent war, and not to fight unless it was impossible to disarm Iraq -- if it still has such weapons, which it denies. "Only, only, when (President) Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) does not comply with both the inspections and the consequences of the inspections...then there can be reason for a military intervention," Lubbers said. Inspectors from the IAEA and a U.N. mission toured the Modern Company for Brewery and other sites on Friday as the mission to scour Iraq for traces of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons entered its second month. Iraq said on Thursday the experts had found no evidence of banned weapons. The inspectors are now starting to interview scientists who worked on now abandoned weapons programs. The 100-plus inspectors -- whose predecessors left the country in 1998 after Baghdad halted cooperation -- are due to issue their next report on January 9 and a final one on January 27, and speculation is growing that this could spark war. A U.N. Security Council resolution last month gave Iraq a last chance to come clean on its weapons programs, as required by resolutions stemming back to the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites) -- or face the consequences, which is diplomatic speak for possible war. World oil prices rose again on Friday because of the combined effect of the Venezuelan strike and fears of a U.S. attack on Iraq in the New Year. Crude prices are now $10 a barrel higher than at the start of 2002. America, still embroiled in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and building up forces in the Gulf, also faced a shock confrontation with North Korea (news - web sites), which has said it will revive its nuclear program and announced on Friday it was expelling U.N. nuclear inspectors. In Washington, a U.S. official said the Defense Department had put a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier on alert for a possible return to the Gulf region only days after returning from a six-month deployment. Keen to win over allies lukewarm about a possible war with Iraq, Washington sent two senior officials to Turkey but the key NATO (news - web sites)-member said it wanted to see the results of the weapons inspectors' mission before promising any support. "Turkey will not finalize its position until the U.N. Security Council's decision," said the ruling party's leader Tayyip Erdogan. Iraq says the United States is planning to attack it regardless of the findings of the weapons inspectors. story.news.yahoo.com

To: Lil Knubber who wrote (929)	1/13/2003 12:56:52 PM
From: Rainy_Day_Woman	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 25898

"appear to be consistent with reverse engineering of rockets," as Baghdad has claimed, rather than for enriching uranium for nuclear arms." and why should we question what Iraq says? Iraq denies stockpiling weapons of mass destruction Iraq denies ''gaps'' in its weapons report Iraq denies it has any nuclear, chemical capabilities Iraq denies charges it used chemical weapons in civil war Iraq denies US charges of links to Al Qaeda Iraq denies still holding some 3,200 Iranian soldiers Iraq denies 600 Kuwaitis are missing or held prisoners of war following Iraq's occupation Kuwait Iraq denies a poison gas attack on Iraqi Kurds Iraq denies it prohibited site searches to UN weapons inspectors Iraq denies Crimes and Human Rights Abuses Iraq denies systematic torture of his political opponents and other citizens to hold on to power Iraq denies arming the region Iraq denies Iraqi intelligence officers met prime suspect Mohammed Atta met in Europe Iraq denies US reports of luxury spending Iraq denies illegally exporting Iraqi oil Iraq denies firing missile at US spy plane Iraq denies locking the aircraft on radar Iraq denies rocketing American planes Iraq denies Iraqi anti-terrorism forces train at their military base do we see a pattern here?