Tracking Inspections in Iraq

RFE/L

22 FEBRUARY 2003

      The Iraqi Foreign Ministry reported that a U-2 reconnaissance plane surveyed several areas over Iraq during a six-hour period on 22 February. The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) did not comment on the reconnaissance flight.
      A team of four International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors visited the Al-Qadisiyah State Company, an affiliate of the Iraqi Military Industrialization Organization (MIO), located in Al-Yusufiyah, 25 kilometers south of Baghdad. Inspectors checked warehouses and workshops, as well as "evacuation sites," and verified tagged equipment, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry stated. UNMOVIC acknowledged this inspection but did not offer details.
      A second team of four IAEA inspectors traveled to the 7 Nisan Company (MIO-affiliated) 25 kilometers east of Baghdad. Inspectors entered the administrative buildings, service units, warehouses and workshops, and verified Iraqi declarations on the site, the Foreign Ministry reported. UNMOVIC stated that IAEA inspectors went to the Al-Nahrawan munitions factory.
      A third team consisting of two IAEA inspectors preformed a car-borne radiation survey in Abu Gharib, including the Dairy State Company (belonging to the Ministry of Industry), the Al-Dhahab Al-Abyad Village and residential buildings, the Akrkuf Electric Plant, Al-Sumud Factory, and the Al-Yarmouk Company (MIO-affiliated), according to the Foreign Ministry. The inspectors removed an air sampler at Al-Yarmouk, the ministry added. UNMOVIC stated that the radiation survey was conducted in the area of the Yarmouk State Establishment site.
      A team of three missile inspectors traveled to "the Static Test Site of the destroyed rockets" at Al-Amiriyah, 70 kilometers west of Baghdad, where they inspected "the ruins at the site," the ministry reported. UNMOVIC stated that the purpose of the visit was to inspect the remains of a liquid-engine-propellant test stand. It added that inspectors tagged two pieces of manufacturing equipment during the inspection.
      The same team of inspectors proceeded to the Badr State Company (MIO-affiliated) located 30 kilometers south of Baghdad to tag "some programmed vertical turning machines used to produce some components of the Al-Sumud rocket," the Foreign Ministry stated. UNMOVIC did not mention this site by name.
      A second team of nine missile inspectors visited the Ibn Al-Haytham site of the Al-Karamah State Company (MIO-affiliated) located in Al-Taji, 10 kilometers north of Baghdad. The inspection sought to obtain information on equipment related to the Al-Sumud rocket, the Foreign Ministry noted. Inspectors also tagged rockets currently being manufactured there, including their engines and warheads, the ministry added. UNMOVIC stated that the inspectors inventoried Al-Sumud 2 missile components and sub-assemblies at Ibn Al-Haytham.
      A third group of five missile inspectors went to Al-Nasr Al-Adheem State Company (MIO-affiliated) located in Al-Durah, Baghdad. Inspectors questioned company officials about rocket parts manufactured at the site, verified Iraqi declarations on the site, and checked tagged equipment, according to the Foreign Ministry. UNMOVIC reported this inspection but did not provide details.
      A team of four biological inspectors visited the Al-Razi Center, an affiliate of the Iraqi Ministry of Industry and Minerals and located in Abu Gharib. Inspectors used an incinerator to destroy some growth media and "damaged others by treating them with water," the Foreign Ministry reported.
      The same team then proceeded to the Food Inspection Laboratory affiliated with the Ministry of Trade and located in Al-Jadiriyah. Inspectors destroyed "chemical materials" using a sterilization device, the Foreign Ministry stated.
      UNMOVIC reported the inspection of the two above-mentioned sites, stating that it visited the research center and testing laboratory to "observe the destruction of a relatively small amount of out-of-date bacterial growth media previously monitored by the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM)." UNMOVIC added that the observation was carried out at the request of the two facilities through the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate (NMD).
      A second team of eight biological inspectors visited the Mosul College of Medicine where they questioned the dean "and other experts" about the teaching staff (focusing on the microbiology staff), their degrees, and the number of students and postgraduate students. The laboratories and animal house was inspected, as well as the College of Pharmacy, chemistry, biology and microbiology and postgraduate laboratories, the Foreign Ministry reported. UNMOVIC did not mention this inspection in its daily briefing.
      A Baghdad-based joint UNMOVIC inspection team of five visited the Liquid Fuel Analysis Laboratory, an affiliate of the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. Inspectors questioned a site official about the site's name and affiliation, the "duties of the laboratory," and the date that the lab was moved to its present location, the Foreign Ministry noted. UNMOVIC stated that the facility "performs validation and control analyses of rocket and missile fuel used in air defense."
      A Mosul-based joint inspection team went to the Al-Kindi State Company (MIO-affiliated) to tag "two pieces of metal," according to the Foreign Ministry. UNMOVIC did not refer to this inspection in its briefing.
      A team of chemical inspectors was to travel by helicopter to an unnamed site, but the inspection was cancelled due to bad weather, the Foreign Ministry reported.

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Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Tracking Inspections in Iraq