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Politics : Foreign Affairs - No Political Rants -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: NickSE who wrote (136)	3/2/2003 6:47:03 PM
From: lorne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 504

Baghdad reveals location of nerve agent and anthrax MARCH 3, 2003 MON It also threatens to halt destruction of missiles, which it began on Saturday, if Washington signals that it will attack BAGHDAD - Ongoing excavations have uncovered important quantities of anthrax and VX nerve agent, Iraqi presidential adviser Amer al-Saadi said yesterday. United Nations inspectors have been seeking clarification of the whereabouts of such deadly agents for years. Advertisement Mr Saadi said excavations at the al-Aziziya air base, 104 km south-west of Baghdad, had uncovered nearly all bomb fragments filled with tonnes of toxic agents which Iraq insists it destroyed unilaterally in 1991. He said that so far Iraq had not quite found all 157 tonnes of anthrax, 'but we are nearing it, there is work in progress', he told a news conference. The material 'is in a site called al-Hakam, and this is what the meeting this evening is all about', he said, referring to talks between newly-arrived UN biological experts and Iraqi authorities. He added that 1.5 tonnes of VX still to be accounted for 'was unilaterally destroyed in a dumping site near al-Muthanna State Establishment, and we have made analyses which strongly indicate that the total material was destroyed there'. Previously, Iraqi officials had offered to hold talks with UN inspectors on VX and anthrax stocks that it says it has destroyed, in what seemed a new move to head off Washington's threat of military action. Mr Saadi also indicated that Baghdad could cut off its destruction of banned Al-Samoud 2 missiles if the United States signals it will attack. 'If it turns out at an early stage during this month that America is not going a legal way, then why should we continue?' he asked. Iraq complied with an order from UN weapons inspectors and began to destroy its Al Samoud 2 missile program on Saturday. It destroyed four missiles Saturday and another six yesterday. Meanwhile, US defence officials said they could quickly adjust their war plans after the Turkish Parliament dealt a severe blow to American plans by refusing to grant US troops access to the country's bases for a possible invasion. 'US military planners make their living by planning for contingencies,' a senior US defence official said. 'Our plans are flexible enough to meet any change.' Though far from ideal, a strong option would be to insert thousands of troops into northern Iraq aboard air force cargo planes landing on existing primitive airstrips or highways, analysts say. But the officials still held out hope that Turkey would come around, and have asked the Nato ally for 'clarification' after the Parliament first appeared to pass and then to reject Washington's request. - Reuters, AP, AFP straitstimes.asia1.com.sg