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Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

09 December 2002

Weapons Inspectors Begin Analysis of Iraqi Weapons Declaration

(Thousands of pages arrive at U.N. Headquarters) (580)
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- U.N. weapons inspectors have begun poring over the
thousands of pages of information on Iraq's weapons of mass
destruction turned over to them by the Iraqi government one day before
a Security Council deadline.
The 12,000 pages of what Iraq says is a complete declaration of all
its weapons of mass destruction were turned over to officials of the
U.N. Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Baghdad December 7.
UNMOVIC officials brought the files on Iraq's chemical, and biological
weapons and ballistic missiles and delivery systems to their offices
in New York while the IAEA took the section on nuclear weapons to its
headquarters in Vienna.
A complete set of the files also was taken to U.N. headquarters in New
York by UNMOVIC for the Security Council.
According to resolution 1441, passed on November 8, Iraq must give
UNMOVIC and IAEA a currently accurate, full and complete declaration
of all aspects of its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons
programs, and ballistic missiles systems, as well as information on
all other chemical, biological, and nuclear programs by December 8.
The resolution also requires the weapons inspectors to brief the
council on their progress in verifying the data by January 27.
"Experts from both UNMOVIC and the IAEA have started going through the
material," U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said December 9.
At the request of the United States and other permanent members of the
council, President Alfonso Valdivieso of Columbia held private
consultations over the weekend on how the report was to be given to
the Security Council. He decided that as soon as copies could be made,
unedited versions would be given to the five permanent members of the
council -- China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, and the United
States -- which are also nuclear powers and therefore would have the
expertise to assess the risks of proliferation and other sensitive
information contained in the files.
Dissemination of the declaration to the remaining council members will
occur after any sections that could potentially foster arms
proliferation or whose dissemination would contravene arms conventions
such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the Chemical
Weapons Convention, and the Biological Weapons Convention are edited,
the council president and UNMOVIC officials said.
"This is a sensitive issue," Valdivieso told journalists December 9.
"We cannot assume risks of proliferation, and the way to avoid that is
to provide [copies] to the [council] members that have that
expertise."
Experts from China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United
States are going to make recommendation to UNMOVIC and IAEA about what
should be included in the working version of the declaration that will
be presented to the entire council, Valdivieso said.
He said U.N. weapons experts hope to have the edited document to the
council in about one week.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan also noted December 9 that UNMOVIC
Executive Chairman Hans Blix has said that he would appreciate
governments' sharing of intelligence and other information with him
and the inspectors, particularly with regard to sites where they may
find hidden material.
Meanwhile UNMOVIC and IAEA continued inspections of facilities in
Iraq. An additional 25 inspectors -- 21 from the IAEA and 4 from
UNMOVIC -- have arrived in the country, bringing the total number of
U.N. weapons inspectors currently in Iraq to 42. Another 25 to 30
UNMOVIC inspectors are expected to arrive in Baghdad on December 10.
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)



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