Iraq Tells the World Again We Have No Banned Arms
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=564&ncid=716&e=8&u=/nm/20021204/ts_nm/iraq_dc
By Nadim Ladki and Carol Giacomo
BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraq said on Wednesday its planned declaration to the United Nations (news - web sites) would cover biological, chemical, missile and nuclear technologies, but stressed again it had no weapons of mass destruction.
Baghdad's latest statement was another message of defiance to President Bush (news - web sites), who insists Iraq does possess weapons of mass destruction and has threatened war if necessary to disarm it.
U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz cooled any talk of imminent war, however, saying Iraq's declaration to the U.N. would not in itself trigger a U.S. decision on military action.
"I'm quite sure (Bush) is not going to make it simply on the basis of one single piece of information," Wolfowitz said in Brussels. "He's going to make it...also (in) close consultation, particularly with our allies but indeed with the international community."
Hussam Mohammed Amin, head of the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate, said in Baghdad: "The declaration will repeat that in Iraq there are no weapons of mass destruction.
"It will be a huge declaration. Of course it contains new elements," he told a news conference.
Amin, who has already said the dossier will be handed over on Saturday, a day before the U.N. deadline, said it would cover "biological, chemical and missile and nuclear activities" as well as "dual-use activities," a reference to technology with both civilian and military applications.
Washington dismissed Iraq's statement and demanded a more aggressive U.N. hunt for arms of mass destruction as inspectors in Iraq trudged past camels and through a foul-smelling desert site. So far they have found nothing untoward, apart from some old artillery shells containing mustard gas that the U.N. already knew about.
Washington dismissed Iraq's statement and demanded a more aggressive U.N. hunt for arms of mass destruction as inspectors in Iraq trudged past camels and through a foul-smelling desert site. So far they have found nothing untoward, apart from some old artillery shells containing mustard gas that the U.N. already knew about.
Baghdad's latest statement was another message of defiance to President Bush (news - web sites), who insists Iraq does possess weapons of mass destruction and has threatened war if necessary to disarm it.
No! This is a finger to Bush and a fist to the UN. I can't wait to see Ol Uday on trial for war crimes and other human rights abominations.