• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

IRAQI MISSILES STILL UNACCOUNTED FOR, UNSCOM SAYS

(U.N. fears some chemical and biological weapons hidden)

United Nations -- The head of the Special Commission overseeing the destruction of Iraqi weapons (UNSCOM) said October 17 that UNSCOM believes that "limited but highly significant quantities" of banned missiles, and certain high-quality chemical and biological warfare agents and related programs are still being hidden by Iraq more than five years after the Gulf War cease-fire agreement known as "Resolution 687."

"The commission's information indicates that Iraq has still not told the full story of its weapons programs and handed over all its proscribed weapons materials and capabilities for final disposal," UNSCOM said in a written report to the Security Council.

Although Iraq has now given UNSCOM what it says are complete and final disclosures of all the banned weapons programs, UNSCOM feels that "further work is required" including "a dedicated and honest commitment by Iraq, implemented on all levels, to a course of full cooperation and transparency," UNSCOM said.

UNSCOM Chairman Ambassador Rolf Ekeus summarized the 40-page report during a private meeting with the council and asked for the council's full support as he embarks on his latest trip to Baghdad set to begin October 17.

Ekeus said he will try to get the political assurances already received translated into practical actions on the ground "so Iraq hands over what it still is concealing or gives a full account of secret destruction activities, if they indeed have taken place."

"I feel that the fundamental element we need for successful conclusion of our work is the continuing strong determination by the council itself," Ekeus said. "The debate today was very strong in that sense. It was unanimous, very firm support for our efforts and that helps me and (UNSCOM) when we go to Baghdad."

Talking with journalists after the council meeting Ekeus said that "a major achievement" during his upcoming visit would be if Iraq dealt with "the very serious problem" of accounting for all its ballistic missiles and biological and chemical weapons capabilities.

"It is necessary to account for these missiles capable of delivering biological warfare agents or advanced, high quality chemical warfare agents," Ekeus said. "It is not a matter of a remote accounting problem, it is real matter of life and death for the states in the region and therefore we cannot rest until they are accounted for."

"Since April 1991 Iraq established a system to hide documents related to the weapons...missile components (and) important missile production material," he said. "Iraq now admits it transported these on a system of trucks -- 11 heavy trucks, which is an enormous amount of production capabilities."

"We, however, suspect that it was not only (the late Iraqi defector) Hussein Kamel but it was the Iraqi government itself involved in these activities. We feel that this mechanism -- or elements of that mechanism -- is still in place. We would like to bring an end to that so the concealed items will be handed over to the commission and we can make a full accounting," Ekeus said.

U.S. Ambassador Madeleine Albright said after the meeting with Ekeus that she saw "a very carefully detailed explanation of the cynical hide-and-seek game that Saddam Hussein is playing in terms of disclosing material to UNSCOM."

"We stated again the importance of Saddam Hussein complying with these Security Council resolutions. Over the last five years whenever he has had a choice to comply, he has made the wrong choice trying to figure out how to obfuscate rather than how to comply," Albright said.

After the Gulf War Iraq handed over 45 missiles to the U.N. to be destroyed. However, Iraq subsequently revealed that it secretly kept 85 operational, long-range, top-quality missiles and said that in 1992 it destroyed them without UNSCOM supervision. Iraqi officials brought U.N. weapons inspectors to a scrap yard where they said that the remnants of the 85 missiles are kept.

"We have over years tried to identify the missiles with the help of data from the supplier of these missiles (the then Soviet Union). We have still not found remnants from all missiles there. There are a number of missiles not accounted for," Ekeus said.

"There can only be one or two (explanations): either Iraq had a separate campaign of destruction at a different time, at a different site, with different personnel....destroying these missiles in secrecy or Iraq has not destroyed them at all and Iraq still keeps that amount of missiles," he said.

As UNSCOM has pressed deeper into Iraq's weapons programs, the commission's relations with Iraq have become more difficult with Iraq blocking several inspections. Nevertheless UNSCOM has been able to accumulate evidence that Iraq has been using tactics "for the purpose of hiding and protecting" material banned by Resolution 687.

The inspections "clearly show that there was an organized mechanism of concealment used by Iraq to deny access to proscribed documents and material," said the report which was released October 17. "....(Iraq) has resorted to delays and denials of access to sites designated by teams investigating concealment activities."

In August 1995 Iraq officially admitted that it had concealed important information from UNSCOM and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) "clearly establishing that the responsibility for the delays rests squarely on Iraq's shoulders," the report said.

While millions of liters of chemical weapon agents have been destroyed by UNSCOM, the commission's own independent investigation has revealed a much larger chemical weapons program than Iraq reported and has forced Baghdad to increase its accounting of chemical weapons programs from 88 pages submitted in 1992 to 440 pages by June 1996.

"The commission now has a fundamental understanding of the earlier tactical chemical weapons programs," the report said. "However, the most technologically advanced or modern elements remain unaccounted for."

After flatly denying any biological weapons activity, Iraq finally admitted to having an offensive biological weapons program in July 1995. It later revealed weaponization and a larger biological warfare program in August 1995 after the defection of General Hussein Kamel, who headed the department responsible for the development and manufacture of the banned weapons.

"The commission has succeeded in uncovering the existence of Iraq's biological program and believes it has destroyed its major facilities. However, it needs to continue to investigate the scope and extent of the program to arrive at a complete picture," the report said.

After Kamel's defection on August 20, 1995, Iraq turned over tons of documents to the U.N. that were hidden inside Iraq since 1991 and were then at a so-called "chicken farm" at Haidar. Iraq also said that the documents from the chicken farm were only a portion of what was hidden, but the rest was burned just a few days before August 20 at another farm west of Baghdad.

"The very existence and concealment of these materials over four and one-half years validated the commission's concerns about the existence of a mechanism used to collect and transport these items and to establish a network of hide-sites and provide logistical support for this clandestine operation," the report said.

In 1996 Iraq subsequently admitted to "an organized campaign" to collect important documents related to technical know-how for the design and manufacture of weapons of mass destruction. Those documents were handed over to the "security organizations" for long-term storage and concealment, the report said.

Throughout UNSCOM's investigations "Iraq has sought to deflect or minimize the involvement of its special security services in concealment activities. It has acknowledged that officially sanctioned false statements had been made to mislead the commission in its investigations. It has resorted to delays and denials of access to sites designated by teams investigating concealment activities," the report said.

British Ambassador Sir John Weston also highlighted Iraq's organized plan of concealment and "the struggle" UNSCOM has had in doing its work.

Ekeus' report "points to the fact which everybody has echoed this morning: that we are not yet at a point where we can assure ourselves that what was required of Iraq under the resolution ....has been achieved," the British ambassador said.

"Certainly the view of the United Kingdom is that the stakes are so high in a subject of this kind -- both in the case of Iraq and for the wider consequences and implications in the future -- that this job must be carried through to the very end," Sir John said.

The oil embargo will not be lifted until UNSCOM certifies to the council that Iraq has complied fully with all the weapons provisions of Resolution 687.

Resolution 687 requires Iraq to accept the unconditional destruction, removal or rendering harmless, under UNSCOM supervision, of all chemical and biological weapons and all stocks of agents; all related systems and components; and all research, development, support and manufacturing facilities; all ballistic missiles with a range greater than 150 kilometers and related major parts, and repair and production facilities.