Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=09/24/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=BRITAIN / IRAQ (L)

NUMBER=2-294406

BYLINE=MICHAEL DRUDGE

DATELINE=LONDON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: British Prime Minister Tony Blair says Iraq has plans to use chemical and biological weapons that pose what he calls a "serious and current" threat to world peace. Mr. Blair has released a 55-page dossier on Iraq's weapons program, as we hear from V-O-A's Michael Drudge in London.

TEXT: The Blair report concludes that Iraq has continued to build up stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and could deploy them with 45-minutes notice.

It also alleges that Iraq has tried to clandestinely acquire uranium from Africa that could be used to build nuclear weapons.

It says Iraq is trying to extend the range of its Scud missiles to distances that could hit British military bases around the Mediterranean.

And it says intelligence experts believe Iraq could build a nuclear weapon within one or two years if the U-N lifted sanctions that have kept Iraq from acquiring nuclear material.

In Baghdad, an Iraqi official called the report "baseless."

In a foreword to the report, Mr. Blair says Iraq poses what he calls a "serious and current" threat and continues to defy U-N resolutions.

Mr. Blair says Iraq must let U-N weapons inspections resume without hindrance, and if it fails to do so, he says the international community must act.

The United Nations required Iraq to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf war. Iraq prevented U-N inspectors from fully investigating its weapons program, And the U-N pulled its inspectors out of Iraq in 1998 ahead of U-S and British air strikes.

Mr. Blair released his report just hours before a special debate in parliament on the Iraq crisis. The prime minister hopes the report will influence lawmakers who are skeptical of the threat Iraq poses.

The report came out as a new British public opinion poll showed that opposition to a military strike against Iraq rose six percentage points, to 46 percent, since last week. (Signed).

NEB/MWD/awp