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Tracking Inspections: 14 DECEMBER 2002

A team of 22 chemical inspectors returned to Al-Qa'qa State Company, which "produces materials for conventional military industries" according to the Foreign Ministry. Inspectors visited the Tariq plant and questioned the director before checking production units and tagged equipment, the ministry stated. UNMOVIC stated that the chemical team inspected two facilities at Al-Qa'qa, a high concentrated (oleum) sulphuric acid plant and all storage facilities in the main storage area. It added that equipment and chemicals at the site were verified.

A UNMOVIC biological team of 24 inspectors went to the Atomic Energy Organization site at Al-Tuwaythah. There, inspectors visited the agriculture department, the biology department, the "mushroom" building, the dairy building, the site for producing pesticides and protein, the "site for spiral worm research," and the soil research unit, the ministry stated. Inspectors also visited the environmental department and the chemistry and "medicinal preparations department" and checked tagged equipment.

A team of four biological inspectors returned to the Communicable Diseases Control Center to inspect dual-use equipment.

A UNMOVIC team of 14 inspectors returned to the Al-Sumud Factory (MIO), which "specializes in mechanical operations." Inspectors questioned the director and searched computer rooms and buildings at the site, checking tagged equipment, the ministry stated. UNMOVIC reported that Al-Sumud began operating in 1999, and manufactures major components and is the final assembly location of Al-Sumud missiles.

A group of 11 UNMOVIC inspectors went to the Al-Fatah Company in Baghdad (MIO), which specializes in research and development on solid propellant missiles and rockets that were previously constructed at the Al-Kadhimiya plant.

A group of four IAEA inspectors went to the Al-Nasr State Company, 30 kilometers north of Baghdad, which the ministry says specializes in "mechanical industries." The inspectors examined seals on equipment. There, the group visited the Dhu Al-Faqar factory belonging to the Al-Rashid State Company to examine machines there, the ministry stated. Environmental samples were taken from the Al-Nasr and Dhu Al-Faqar companies. An IAEA group returned to Dhu Al-Faqar later in the day to inquire about aluminum tubes and the quantities made at the factory, the ministry stated. UNMOVIC identified the Dhu Al-Faqar factory as being previously involved in Iraq's centrifuge project. It added that various waste streams were sampled at the Al-Nasr and Dhu Al-Faqar sites.

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