ACCESSION
ACCESSION NUMBER:218298 FILE ID:PO-405 DATE:03/05/92 TITLE:DEFENSE DEPARTMENT REPORT, THURSDAY, MARCH 3 (03/05/92) TEXT:*92030505.POL DEFENSE DEPARTMENT REPORT, THURSDAY, MARCH 3 (Iraq, POWs/MIAs) (440) NEWS BRIEFING -- Spokesman Pete Williams discussed the following topics: U.S. PROVIDES IDEAS FOR U.N. TEAMS IN IRAQ Williams said the United States is providing "suggestions" on where U.N. inspection teams might look for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. 1 U.N. ballistic missile inspection teams are searching in and around Baghdad for Scud surface-to-surface missiles and transportation launchers, the spokesman said. The United States "has been concerned about (Iraqi) Scuds since the end of the war," he added. The inspections are tied to U.N. Security Council Resolutions 687 and 707, Williams explained, which require Iraq to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction. U.N. Resolution 707 relates to the Scud search because it calls for the destruction of Iraqi ballistic missiles with a range greater than 150 kilometers, he added. Asked about reports of underground digging around the Iraqi capital, the spokesman said, "they have been hiding things since the U.N. inspections started. They have been burying parts of their nuclear...(and) ballistic missile capability right along with everything else." Asked specifically if the Iraqis had buried Scuds around Baghdad as reported in the March 5 Washington Times, Williams said, "They have been doing that. They have been digging all around...to bury all kinds of things." Regarding the Washington Times report that Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, and Turkey want to buy Patriot missiles from the United States, he noted that "Since the end of the war there has been an enormous amount of interest" worldwide by nations "interested in buying Patriots." The United States has not notified Congress about any proposed Patriot sales, Williams said, beyond the December proposal to sell the defensive missiles to Saudi Arabia. ASIAN, U.S. EXPERTS TO DISCUSS MIAS Technical experts from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Cambodia and the United States will meet March 6-7 in Phnom Penh to discuss Americans still recorded as missing in action (MIAs) from the Vietnam War, Williams said. This will be "the first tripartite meeting between these three countries on this subject," the spokesman said, noting the talks "are aimed at improving and increasing cooperation on POW (prisoners of war)/MIA issues." The group will focus on "joint procedures to resolve cases involving American missing in areas along the Cambodia/Vietnam border which was controlled by the People's Army of Vietnam" forces during the war. Brigadier General Thomas Needham will lead the U.S. delegation to Phnom Penh, Williams said. NNNN .
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