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Iraq to start destroying Al Samoud missiles
Baghdad, Mar 01: Iraq agreed to begin destroying its Al Samoud 2 missiles by Saturday, Iraqi sources said, a decision that chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix hailed as `a very significant piece of real disarmament.`
Baghdad, Mar 01: Iraq agreed to begin destroying its Al Samoud 2 missiles by Saturday, Iraqi sources said, a decision that chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix hailed as "a very significant piece of real disarmament."
Iraqi sources in the capital, speaking on condition of anonymity, said destruction of the missiles would start Saturday. "We have accepted destruction of those missiles, although they do not constitute a serious violation of the UN resolutions, but we want to remove any pretext that there may be to wage aggression against Iraq," Iraq's deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, told delegates to a conference in Mexico City by telephone.
The destruction of the finned white rockets is seen as a key test of Baghdad's resolve to disarm and avert a US-led war. Predictably, Friday's 11th-hour concession was greeted with celebration by governments opposed to war and skepticism by those advocating it.
In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer dismissed the idea that the Iraqi move reflected progress. "This is the deception the president predicted. "We do expect that they will destroy at least some of their missiles," he said. But US President George W. Bush won't settle for anything less than full disarmament, Fleischer added, without specifying what that would mean.
European governments opposed to war said Iraq's decision on the missiles reinforced their opinion that weapons inspections were weakening Saddam Hussein's military capabilities.
"It is an important step in the process of the peaceful disarmament of Iraq," French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said. "It confirms that inspectors are getting results."
In New York, a deeply divided UN Security Council was considering a US-backed resolution that would authorize war, as well as a French-led proposal to continue with inspections. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Russia would veto the US-backed resolution if needed to preserve "international stability."
Blix ordered Iraq to begin destroying the missiles by Saturday after examining 40 test flights. In 13 of them, the missile flew farther than the 150-kilometer limit set by UN resolutions after the 1991 Gulf War. In 27 test flights, the missile flew below the limit.
But in a report written before Iraq agreed to eliminate the rockets, Blix told the Security Council that Baghdad must provide much more evidence about its chemical, biological and missile programs.
Iraq maintains that some missiles overshot the limit only because they were tested without warheads or guidance systems. It called the decision unjust and appealed for technical discussions with UN inspectors.
Blix's chief deputy, Demetrius Perricos, held those discussions Friday night, Iraqi sources said. He was to hold more Saturday "with a view to commencing the destruction process" the same day, inspectors' spokesman Hiro Ueki said.
"It is a very significant piece of real disarmament," Blix said. "They say they accepted in principle, and it is to start tomorrow," he added. "So maybe tomorrow evening or Sunday we will have more to say."
Iraq is believed to have between 100 and 120 of the missiles, and UN inspectors say it has continued to produce and test them this week. Although still in development and relatively unreliable, inspectors say some of the missiles have been deployed to military units.
The Feb. 21 order said Iraq must destroy the missiles, their unassembled components, fuel, engines, launchers and software. The program that created the missiles also must go - its scientists dispersed and its records wiped out.
US analysts worry that if Iraq is still hiding chemical and biological weapons, it could load them on the Al Samoud 2 to target US forces deployed in the Persian Gulf region, now 225,000 strong.
Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have threatened war, saying Iraq has failed to comply fully with UN disarmament resolutions.
Blair also greeted Iraq's announcement with skepticism, recalling suggestions by Saddam earlier in the week that he might not comply.
"The moment I heard ... that Saddam Hussein was saying he would not destroy the missiles was the moment that I knew later in the week that he would announce - just before Dr. Blix reported - that he would indeed destroy these missiles," Blair said at a news conference in Spain.
Blair said Saddam still must account for the thousands of tons of "biological and chemical poison" he said Iraq possessed when UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in 1998.
Iraq says it has destroyed all such weapons unilaterally, and has begun taking inspectors to disposal sites to prove it.
Inspectors returned Friday to al-Aziziya, an abandoned helicopter airfield 100 kilometers southeast of Baghdad where Iraq says it destroyed R-400 bombs filled with biological weapons in 1991.
At the site, bulldozers moved mounds of earth to reveal rusty, dirt-caked warheads and bomb fragments, some as large as cars. Nearby, missiles bearing UN identification tags rusted in a parched field.
Overhead, an American U-2 reconnaissance plane flew over Iraq for more than six hours Friday - the fourth such flight in support of the UN inspections, Iraq said. The U-2 flights had been another key demand of the inspectors until Iraq agreed to them this month.
Bureau Report
Iraqi sources in the capital, speaking on condition of anonymity, said destruction of the missiles would start Saturday. "We have accepted destruction of those missiles, although they do not constitute a serious violation of the UN resolutions, but we want to remove any pretext that there may be to wage aggression against Iraq," Iraq's deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, told delegates to a conference in Mexico City by telephone.
The destruction of the finned white rockets is seen as a key test of Baghdad's resolve to disarm and avert a US-led war. Predictably, Friday's 11th-hour concession was greeted with celebration by governments opposed to war and skepticism by those advocating it.
In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer dismissed the idea that the Iraqi move reflected progress. "This is the deception the president predicted. "We do expect that they will destroy at least some of their missiles," he said. But US President George W. Bush won't settle for anything less than full disarmament, Fleischer added, without specifying what that would mean.
European governments opposed to war said Iraq's decision on the missiles reinforced their opinion that weapons inspections were weakening Saddam Hussein's military capabilities.
"It is an important step in the process of the peaceful disarmament of Iraq," French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said. "It confirms that inspectors are getting results."
In New York, a deeply divided UN Security Council was considering a US-backed resolution that would authorize war, as well as a French-led proposal to continue with inspections. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Russia would veto the US-backed resolution if needed to preserve "international stability."
Blix ordered Iraq to begin destroying the missiles by Saturday after examining 40 test flights. In 13 of them, the missile flew farther than the 150-kilometer limit set by UN resolutions after the 1991 Gulf War. In 27 test flights, the missile flew below the limit.
But in a report written before Iraq agreed to eliminate the rockets, Blix told the Security Council that Baghdad must provide much more evidence about its chemical, biological and missile programs.
Iraq maintains that some missiles overshot the limit only because they were tested without warheads or guidance systems. It called the decision unjust and appealed for technical discussions with UN inspectors.
Blix's chief deputy, Demetrius Perricos, held those discussions Friday night, Iraqi sources said. He was to hold more Saturday "with a view to commencing the destruction process" the same day, inspectors' spokesman Hiro Ueki said.
"It is a very significant piece of real disarmament," Blix said. "They say they accepted in principle, and it is to start tomorrow," he added. "So maybe tomorrow evening or Sunday we will have more to say."
Iraq is believed to have between 100 and 120 of the missiles, and UN inspectors say it has continued to produce and test them this week. Although still in development and relatively unreliable, inspectors say some of the missiles have been deployed to military units.
The Feb. 21 order said Iraq must destroy the missiles, their unassembled components, fuel, engines, launchers and software. The program that created the missiles also must go - its scientists dispersed and its records wiped out.
US analysts worry that if Iraq is still hiding chemical and biological weapons, it could load them on the Al Samoud 2 to target US forces deployed in the Persian Gulf region, now 225,000 strong.
Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have threatened war, saying Iraq has failed to comply fully with UN disarmament resolutions.
Blair also greeted Iraq's announcement with skepticism, recalling suggestions by Saddam earlier in the week that he might not comply.
"The moment I heard ... that Saddam Hussein was saying he would not destroy the missiles was the moment that I knew later in the week that he would announce - just before Dr. Blix reported - that he would indeed destroy these missiles," Blair said at a news conference in Spain.
Blair said Saddam still must account for the thousands of tons of "biological and chemical poison" he said Iraq possessed when UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in 1998.
Iraq says it has destroyed all such weapons unilaterally, and has begun taking inspectors to disposal sites to prove it.
Inspectors returned Friday to al-Aziziya, an abandoned helicopter airfield 100 kilometers southeast of Baghdad where Iraq says it destroyed R-400 bombs filled with biological weapons in 1991.
At the site, bulldozers moved mounds of earth to reveal rusty, dirt-caked warheads and bomb fragments, some as large as cars. Nearby, missiles bearing UN identification tags rusted in a parched field.
Overhead, an American U-2 reconnaissance plane flew over Iraq for more than six hours Friday - the fourth such flight in support of the UN inspections, Iraq said. The U-2 flights had been another key demand of the inspectors until Iraq agreed to them this month.
Bureau Report