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Inspectors need 6 months to verify Iraq nuclear disarmament
Washington, Feb 15: The head of the UN`s nuclear watchdog agency said that his team of inspectors would need about six months to verify that Iraq had fully dismantled its nuclear weapons programme.
Washington, Feb 15: The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog agency said that his team of inspectors would need about six months to verify that Iraq had fully dismantled its nuclear weapons programme.
"We are getting some reasonable cooperation on the part
of Iraq," said Mohamed Elbaradei, chief of the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), yesterday.
"It is still a question of months," he told a television channel in an interview, saying his estimate was "around six months." The inspections would go more quickly if Iraq complied fully with the UN teams.
"We need an intrusive system, but we also need full Iraqi cooperation," Elbaradei said.
"The remaining issue, the more important issue, is whether they can come with evidence to exonerate themselves that they have no chemical and biological weapons," he said. "If they do not have documents ... Then interviews with scientists, outside of Iraq, free interviews is the next best thing to assure the council" that Baghdad has disarmed, he said.
Earlier, Elbaradei told the UN Security Council that so far his team had found no evidence of an Iraqi nuclear weapons programme.
Bureau Report
"It is still a question of months," he told a television channel in an interview, saying his estimate was "around six months." The inspections would go more quickly if Iraq complied fully with the UN teams.
"We need an intrusive system, but we also need full Iraqi cooperation," Elbaradei said.
"The remaining issue, the more important issue, is whether they can come with evidence to exonerate themselves that they have no chemical and biological weapons," he said. "If they do not have documents ... Then interviews with scientists, outside of Iraq, free interviews is the next best thing to assure the council" that Baghdad has disarmed, he said.
Earlier, Elbaradei told the UN Security Council that so far his team had found no evidence of an Iraqi nuclear weapons programme.
Bureau Report