AN UPDATE ON INSPECTION
Executive Chairman of UNMOVIC, Dr. Hans Blix
Resolution 687 (1991), like the subsequent resolutions
I shall refer to, required cooperation by Iraq but
such was often withheld or given grudgingly. Unlike
South Africa, which decided on its own to eliminate
its nuclear weapons and welcomed inspection as a means
of creating confidence in its disarmament, Iraq
appears not to have come to a genuine acceptance – not
even today – of the disarmament, which was demanded of
it and which it needs to carry out to win the
confidence of the world and to live in peace.
...
Chemical weapons
The nerve agent VX is one of the most toxic ever
developed.
Iraq has declared that it only produced VX on a pilot
scale, just a few tonnes and that the quality was poor
and the product unstable. Consequently, it was said,
that the agent was never weaponised. Iraq said that
the small quantity of agent remaining after the Gulf
War was unilaterally destroyed in the summer of 1991.
UNMOVIC, however, has information that conflicts with
this account. There are indications that Iraq had
worked on the problem of purity and stabilization and
that more had been achieved than has been declared.
Indeed, even one of the documents provided by Iraq
indicates that the purity of the agent, at least in
laboratory production, was higher than declared.
There are also indications that the agent was
weaponised. In addition, there are questions to be
answered concerning the fate of the VX precursor
chemicals, which Iraq states were lost during bombing
in the Gulf War or were unilaterally destroyed by
Iraq.
I would now like to turn to the so-called “Air Force
document” that I have discussed with the Council
before. This document was originally found by an
UNSCOM inspector in a safe in Iraqi Air Force
Headquarters in 1998 and taken from her by Iraqi
minders. It gives an account of the expenditure of
bombs, including chemical bombs, by Iraq in the
Iraq-Iran War. I am encouraged by the fact that Iraq
has now provided this document to UNMOVIC.
The document indicates that 13,000 chemical bombs were
dropped by the Iraqi Air Force between 1983 and 1988,
while Iraq has declared that 19,500 bombs were
consumed during this period. Thus, there is a
discrepancy of 6,500 bombs. The amount of chemical
agent in these bombs would be in the order of about
1,000 tonnes. In the absence of evidence to the
contrary, we must assume that these quantities are now
unaccounted for.
The discovery of a number of 122 mm chemical rocket
warheads in a bunker at a storage depot 170 km
southwest of Baghdad was much publicized. This was a
relatively new bunker and therefore the rockets must
have been moved there in the past few years, at a time
when Iraq should not have had such munitions.
The investigation of these rockets is still
proceeding. Iraq states that they were overlooked
from 1991 from a batch of some 2,000 that were stored
there during the Gulf War. This could be the case.
They could also be the tip of a submerged iceberg.
The discovery of a few rockets does not resolve but
rather points to the issue of several thousands of
chemical rockets that are unaccounted for.
The finding of the rockets shows that Iraq needs to
make more effort to ensure that its declaration is
currently accurate. During my recent discussions in
Baghdad, Iraq declared that it would make new efforts
in this regard and had set up a committee of
investigation. Since then it has reported that it has
found a further 4 chemical rockets at a storage depot
in Al Taji.
I might further mention that inspectors have found at
another site a laboratory quantity of thiodiglycol, a
mustard gas precursor.
Whilst I am addressing chemical issues, I should
mention a matter, which I reported on 19 December
2002, concerning equipment at a civilian chemical
plant at Al Fallujah. Iraq has declared that it had
repaired chemical processing equipment previously
destroyed under UNSCOM supervision, and had installed
it at Fallujah for the production of chlorine and
phenols. We have inspected this equipment and are
conducting a detailed technical evaluation of it. On
completion, we will decide whether this and other
equipment that has been recovered by Iraq should be
destroyed.
http://www.un.org/Depts/unmovic/Bx27.htm
--- Andy Ousterhout <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> That is after the fact. NOT what he said during his
> testimony, when he said
> that they were not complying.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Howie Hamlin [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Friday, August 06, 2004 11:57 AM
> To: CF-Community
> Subject: Re: CBC News: Bush rushed into Iraq
> invasion: Clinton
>
>
> Yeah, sure...
>
> http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/03/21/iraq.weapons/
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Andy Ousterhout
> To: CF-Community
> Sent: Friday, August 06, 2004 12:22 PM
> Subject: RE: CBC News: Bush rushed into Iraq
> invasion: Clinton
>
> Yes, it makes sense that HE would say it, but
> what he says does not make
> any
> sense on its own merits. Especially since Blix
> said that they
> specifically
> were not complying with the requirements as
> stated by the United Nations.
>
> Andy
>
>
>
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