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Tracking Inspections: 26 DECEMBER 2002

A reported 48 inspectors visited six sites on 26 December, according to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.

A team of six International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors returned to the Al-Zahif Al-Kabeer Company to procure an 81-millimeter aluminum tube before heading to the Thoo Al-Faqar Factory (Al-Rashid State Company) to inspect imported quantities of 81-millimeter aluminum tubes used in missiles with a range of 10 kilometers, according to the ministry. According to the ministry, the tubes were mentioned in British Prime Minister Tony Blair's report on Iraq because they "are suitable in manufacturing [centrifugal equipment] which is used in the production of nuclear bombs." The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) stated that the purpose of the meeting was to "compare inventories generated by Iraq and the IAEA independently," adding that "The material being inventoried is very large stocks of high-strength aluminum that has dual-use purposes."

A joint team of four UNMOVIC inspectors returned to the Baghdad Technology University where they questioned the dean about the university's relations with government ministries before touring the Chemical and Mechanical Engineering Departments and the Systems and Control Department. Inspectors also visited labs and tagged equipment.

A team of 12 biological inspectors visited the Food Examination and Analysis Laboratory in the Al-Jadriya complex (Baghdad), which is affiliated with the Ministry of Trade. Inspectors inquired about the lab's activities, the types of food that are analyzed, and the number of analyses per year as well as the types of equipment used. Inspectors also checked tagged equipment at this previously declared site and surveyed the lab and samples located there, according to the ministry. UNMOVIC added in its statement that the main work of the lab is to test for food and pharmaceutical contaminants.

A team of 10 missile inspectors returned to the Al-Rashid State Company for missile manufacturing to inquire as to the systematic structure and activities of each plant on the grounds of the Al-Rashid complex. Inspectors also checked blueprints for the site and toured the main management building and trade department building. According to UNMOVIC, inspectors held "technical talks" with Iraqi experts at the site on the Iraqi declarations as well as the current status of solid-propellant missile programs. Other inspectors visited the administration building.

A team of 16 chemical inspectors visited the "petrochemical project" belonging to the Public Industry Consultation and Design Commission of the Ministry of Industry and Minerals, according to the ministry. Inspectors met with "specialists" at the site and asked about changes made since 1998, as well as the reasons for the cessation of new construction at the site and future plans, the ministry reported. Inspectors also toured the site, located 60 kilometers south of Baghdad, and checked equipment against declarations. UNMOVIC reported the name of the plant as the Musayyib Pharmaceutical Complex and noted that it was under construction in 1998 and remains so today.

UNMOVIC also announced that it made an unannounced inspection of a "private trading company that represents companies outside of Iraq." Inspectors "reviewed records of purchases facilitated by this company on behalf of Iraqi military programs. The company has been involved in recent attempts by Iraq to purchase high-strength aluminum."

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