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UN inspections in Iraq going too smoothly, U.S. fears

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Sunday, December 1, 2002

The ease with which UN inspectors have conducted inspections of Iraqi suspected weapons of mass destruction facilities has worried U.S. and British officials.

UN officials said the inspection teams reported unfettered access to facilities visited last week in Iraq. So far, at least six sites have been inspected by the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspections Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency, Middle East Newsline reported.

Western intelligence sources said London and Washington suspect that the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein has long spirited WMD equipment out of military and dual-use facilities and placed them in underground bunkers and the homes of Iraqi civil servants.

Officials acknowledged that Iraq was notified in advance of several inspections. They said this included a facility where the Al Hussein medium-range missile was suspected of being produced. The officials had responded to an official Iraqi assertion that the inspectors were notifying Baghdad in advance of visits.

"They had no difficulty gaining immediate access to the sites, as well as any locations within the sites," a UN statement said.

The UNMOVIC team inspected two sites relating to biological weapons. One was the Foot and Mouth Disease Vaccine Plant in Al Dawrah, located about 15 kilometers south of Baghdad.

Iraq declared the Al Dawrah plant as having been used for the production of biological weapons agents starting in 1990. In 1996, UN inspectors destroyed equipment declared to have been in the biological weapons program. But officials said significant dual use production equipment remains.

UN official said the UNMOVIC team of 14 weapons inspectors and support staff completed the inspections tasks and took samples from Al Dawrah. They said the team learned that some equipment had been transferred to another facility.

The second UNMOVIC inspection was that of a small veterinary medicine facility about 20 kilometers north of Baghdad. No additional details were reported.

The IAEA team, comprising nine inspectors and support staff, inspected two sites known for their dual-use capabilities as of 1998. They were identified as the Dhu Al Fiqar and Nassr Company located in the Taji area, north of Baghdad.

UN inspectors have also visited a missile facility in Al Yusifiya, 15 kilometers south of Iraq. Another inspection took place at Al Milad, the site of Iraqi testing of centrifugal equipment designed to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons. The facility for the centrifuges was completed over the last few years.

On Dec. 8, Iraq is expected to submit a declaration on its WMD programs. The declaration is said to be crucial in the Bush administration plans concerning whether to launch war against Iraq.

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