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Tracking Inspections: 2 January 2003

A reported 57 inspectors visited six sites on 2 January. A team of eight International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors visited the Lead Foundry affiliated with the State Company of Battery Industrialization, which belongs to the Ministry of Industry and Minerals, according to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry. It is located in Khan Dhari, 30 kilometers west of Baghdad. Inspectors met with officials and inquired "about the weights of the foundries available, the total number of workers, their specializations, and [the kinds of furnaces] used," as well as about changes made at the site since 1998, the ministry stated. All buildings and storage areas were inspected and photos taken. Inspectors also conduced radiological testing. The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) refers to this site as the Falluja Lead Recovery Plant, which it said operates gas-fired furnaces. It added that the storage site contains "an array of materials" and equipment.

Some inspectors from this group also went to the Ibn Younis Center, located in the same area and affiliated with the Military Industrial Organization. Inspectors toured and photographed storage sites and some equipment tags. Inspectors also checked seals on some equipment and carried out radiological testing, the ministry stated.

A team of 22 missile inspectors returned to the Al-Fatah State Company in Al-Amiriyah and visited on 14 December. Inspectors inquired about "some issues" regarding the Al-Fatah missiles, which have a range of less than 150 kilometers, before touring buildings and questioning "specialists," the ministry stated. UNMOVIC clarified by stating that inspectors held "technical talks" with "key site personnel of the Iraqi Solid Propellant Missile Programs." A joint UNMOVIC team also visited Al-Fatah to "verify information on aviation-related matters."

A joint inspection team of four returned to the Ibn Firnas State Company 15 kilometers north of Baghdad. This site was previously visited on 1 and 19 December according to the Foreign Ministry. Inspectors questioned the director and toured two buildings -- one containing a self-propelled airplane and the other, called the electronic lab by the ministry, where inspectors checked equipment. UNMOVIC stated that this site is "an engineering and procurement entity supporting the Air Force."

A team of 15 biological inspectors went to the Air Force Technical Armories at Al-Taji, located 35 kilometers north of Baghdad. Inspectors asked about equipment delivered to the site since 1998 and toured workshops and storage areas. They also conducted radiation testing and "took samples of some of the damaged fuel tanks," apparently before "returning them back to the shelter" and tagging the door, the ministry stated. UNMOVIC referred to this site as the "Technical Military Depot for the [Air Force]," saying it houses spare parts for a variety of aircraft.

A team of eight chemical inspectors visited the Al-Hadher State Company (owned by the Military Industrial Organization) located in Al-Sherqat, 270 kilometers north of Baghdad, which the ministry stated is a chemical company specialized in producing both concentrated and diluted nitric acid, as well as ammonium nitrate. This site was previously known as the Al-Sharqat Uranium Enrichment Factory, according to UNMOVIC.dustries in Baghdad, according to the UNMOVIC statement. The Iraqi Foreign Ministry did not mention the biological inspections in its daily statement.

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