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Tracking Inspections: 8 DECEMBER 2002

A Foreign Ministry spokesman told Iraq Radio on 8 December that 15 inspectors the same day visited the Al-Fallujah III site of the Al-Tariq State Company, located in the Al-Fallujah district 70 kilometers west of Baghdad. According to UNMOVIC, Al-Fallujah III is "a chemical factory engaged in the production of pesticides, insecticides and rodent poisons. A research and development department is also located at the facility and is concerned with new formulations and synthetic processes for local production of active ingredients. The site contains a number of tagged dual-use items of equipment, which were all accounted for." The Iraqi Foreign Ministry noted that inspectors asked "about the castor oil production unit. This unit was destroyed during the U.S.-British aggression on 16-20 December 1998. The aggression also destroyed the control system of the monitoring cameras that belonged to the defunct [UN] Special Commission. Production then stopped and the undamaged parts of the production unit were dismantled and transported for other uses. The factory established a castor oil extraction unit near the destroyed unit. The new unit began production in 1999." The ministry added that inspectors used hand-held devices to measure the concentration of chemical compounds.

In addition, a team of three inspectors visited the Baghdad-based State Establishment for Geological Survey and the related Geo-Pilot plant facilities, which are part of the Industry and Minerals Ministry. UNMOVIC reported, "These facilities had previously been involved in the mapping of ore assays and developmental processing of those ores." The Iraqi Foreign Ministry described the site as specializing in the geological survey of "Iraqi lands to define mineral resources." The ministry added, "The team visited the Pilot Unit building for...Abu-Sukhayr Mine. This building has not been used since 1991 and is listed in the semi-annual declarations."

A team of 25 nuclear inspectors arrived in Iraq on 8 December -- 21 from the IAEA and 4 from UNMOVIC.

Copyright (c) 2003. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org