WHAT THE IAEA DID

The following is a statement released by the UN, which describes in some detail UN inspections of Al-Qaqaa State Company in January 2003, several months before U.S. forces reached the facility. It appears that the UN inspectors did nothing to secure these munitions. --------------------------------------- A statement by Spokesman for Ministry of Foreign Affairs on (UNMOVIC),(IAEA) activities IRAQ MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS January 11, 2003 1. The IAEA Inspection Team:

A. First group: The group set out from Al-Qanat Hotel at 8:30 a.m. It consisted of (4) inspectors. At 9:00 a.m., the group reached Al-Qaqaa State Company, one of the companies of Military Industrialization Commission, which is located some 60 km south of Baghdad. The Company has been visited several times by inspection teams since they returned to Iraq. The Company's name has been mentioned in Blair's report, page 20, to have been producing chemical weapons. The group has met, at the NMD, with the Company's representative who submitted the group a list that represents the final balance of the explosive material HMX. Later, the group paid a visit to the site of preparing Al-Qaqaa explosive and took specimen from the site soil, and took video pictures to the mixture. Afterwards, the group paid a visit to Al-Qaid Factory and took a look at the material HMX stored there and videoed it. The visit was concluded at 11:05 a.m. and the group arrived at Al-Qanat Hotel at 12:00 a.m.

B. Second group (Nuclear): It set out at 8:30, and consisted of (4) inspectors. At 10:20 a.m., it arrived at Saddam State Company, one of the companies of Military Industrialization Commission, which is located some 70 km west of Baghdad, in Amiriyyat Al-Falluja.

The group took specimen from the programmed machines that exist in Ibn Al-Haitham Factory which belongs to the Company. The group also took specimens from the rest of the machines that exist in the factory and from the inner walls, working tables and closets.

The visit was concluded at 1:00 p.m. and arrived at Al-Qanat Hotel at 2:25 p.m. 2. UNMOVIC Inspection Team (Chemical): The team set out from Al-Qanat Hotel at 9:00 a.m. It consisted of (9) inspectors. At 11:00 a.m., it arrived at Tikrit University headquarters, where they held a meeting with the University's president and inquired about the changes that took place since 1998 and the numbers of the colleges and their departments and places. The inspectors' chief asked for a list of the names of all the colleges' deans and heads of the departments of the University's colleges. The team paid a visit to College of Medicine and College of Education for Women – Department of Chemistry, College of Agricultural Engineering – the Food Processing Department, and Animal Wealth, College of Science – Department of Chemistry, and College of Education – Department of Chemistry. The inspectors took specimens and smack from a left out oven. The visit was concluded at 4:10 p.m. and the team arrived at Al-Qanat Hotel at 5:25. 3. UNMOVIC Inspection Team (Missiles): This team set out from Al-Qanat Hotel at 8:30 a.m. It consisted of (20) inspectors. At 9:30 a.m., it arrived at Ibn Sina State Company, one of the companies of Military Industrialization Commission, which is located some 40 km north of Baghdad. This Company has been visited several times by different inspection teams, following their return to Iraq. The Company's name has been cited in Blair's report to have been producing chemical weapons. The team held a meeting with the Director General of the Company, where they discussed the Company's activities, in addition to Company's activity regarding backing the missiles work. The team took an inspection tour through the facilities specialized with the researches, production and test of the fuel. Besides, the team asked questions in the course of its movement. It also checked the stickers on some labeled equipments. The visit ended at 12:30 p.m., and the team arrived at Al-Qanat Hotel at 1:20 p.m. 4. UNMOVIC Inspection Team (Biological): A. Group one: It set out from Al-Qanat Hotel at 7:30 a.m. It consisted of (2) inspectors. At 7:55 a.m., it arrived at Al-Dabbash Warehouses, which belong to the State Company for Medicines and Medical Prerequisites. These warehouses are located in Al-Huriyya area in Baghdad. The aim of the visit was to lift the stickers from the doors of the cooling refrigerators and of the warehouses that were fixed by biological inspection team the day before during its visit to Al-Dabbash Warehouses. The group took a look at the contents of the refrigerators which were merely items for teeth manufacturing. In addition, the group had a look at the contents of the warehouses. B. Group two: It set out from Al-Qanat Hotel at 8:40 a.m. It consisted of (5) inspectors. At 9:10 a.m., it arrived at Al-Dabbash Warehouses, which belong to the State Company for Medicines and Medical Prerequisites. The group met with Bio-group one. Afterwards, they held a meeting with director of the Warehouses and asked him about the suppliers and the beneficiaries from the warehouses and whether there are others using the warehouses and the cooler transportation means used in distribution. The groups inspected the rest of the warehouses.

The visit ended at 10:30 a.m., and the team arrived at Al-Qanat Hotel at 10:55 a.m.

It set out from Al-Qanat Hotel at 8:30 a.m. It consisted of (12) inspectors. At 9:10 a.m., it arrived at Hey Al-Adel Warehouses, which belong to the State Company for Medicines and Medical Prerequisites. These warehouses are located in Hey Al-Adel in Baghdad. The group has held a meeting with Warehouses director and inquired from him about the activity of the site and the kinds of medicines and the diagnosis tools, whether vaccines were imported and distributed, the structure of the site, the names of key officials and what are the changes for the last four years. The group has visited all cooled rooms, warehouses and the administration rooms.

The visit ended at 12:30 a.m., and the team arrived at Al-Qanat Hotel at 1:00 p.m.

The team set out from Nineveh Palace Hotel in Mosul at 9:00 a.m. It consisted of (14) inspectors. At 9:10 a.m., it reached Mosul Diary Factory, which belong to the Ministry of Industry and Minerals. The team held a meeting with the Director General of the Factory and inquired about the number of workers, the number of persons who have PH.D., whether any equipment have been imported since 1998, whether they have cooled cars, whether dried milk is manufactured in the Factory..

The team took a tour that included production lines and other facilities in the Factory, and checked the stickers.

The team took off aboard two Bill 212 helicopters from Al-Rashid Airport at 11:40 a.m. It consisted of (8) inspectors. At 1:53 p.m., the helicopters landed at K3 Pump Station that belongs to North Oil Company in Haditha. The inspectors' chief asked for visiting the airport that belongs to the Station. Later, the team held a meeting with Station's manager and asked him to which company does this site belong. The team also took a tour in the runway of the airport using vehicles and had a look at the ways that lead to the runway.

The visit ended and the team took off at 4:30 p.m., and landed at Al-Rashid Airport at 5:10 p.m.

It looks like in Jan 2003 they (UN inspectors) visited Al Qaqaa, took some soil samples and video (of HMX), looked in some refrigerators and such.. and left it alone. No notations of protecting the HMX or anything else. UNMOVIC however, did ask about whether dried milk was produced in a factory, however. That must be important.

I'm beginning to doubt anything the UN has to say anymore. This, along with Brit's report tonite, indicates that the UN was at least negligent in their processing of these weapons. All that was visible from the Reuter's video I saw, was a simple chainlink type lock that could've been easily cut with bolt-cutters.

If this depot was as dangerous as is now being described...and the British did give the UN a dossier on Al-Qaqaa that included listing it as a WMD site, one has to wonder why the UN didn't do more to secure this site.

They supposedly tagged these weapons in Janurary...yet they remained unchecked and unsecured by the UN until May of 2003. When US troops rolled through on April 9th...along with a Reuters crew, the so-called high explosives were already gone. The following day, the 101 also came through and did a more thorough review, and they too, found nothing to indicate these explosives were there.

As Brit mentioned, it would've took something like 29 trucks to remove these items...something that would've been highly unlikely to occur while US troops were present throughout the region, not to mention constant serveillance by Predator and other unmanned drones that were covering for the troops.

One has to wonder why, if these items were this dangerous, the UN didn't relocate these weapons as they did many of the prohibited missiles Saddam had procured...and why they left them unsecured for this many months. As was noted, many of these bunkers had also been destroyed, along with the missiles, by our own aerial bombs. If these weapons existed, they were moved long before the US got there.

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