Iraq Calls for Implementing U.N. Resolution on Destroying Weapons of Mass Destruction

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 21, 2001

Iraq Calls for Implementing U.N. Resolution on Destroying Weapons of Mass Destruction

Iraq has called for the implementation of Article 14 of United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 on destroying weapons of mass destruction in the Mideast region and demanded the process to be started first with Israel, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported on Tuesday.

The appeal was made during a cabinet meeting chaired by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The meeting also demanded the U.N. to "comprehensively and completely" lift the sanctions against Iraq, because "Iraq has fulfilled all its commitments under relevant U.N. resolutions," the INA said.

Iraq has been under stringent U.N. sanctions since its 1990 invasion of neighboring Kuwait.

Iraq has always stated that its acceptance of control over its arms was dependent on Article 14 of U.N. Security Council Resolution 687, which calls for the transformation of the Mideast into a region devoid of arms of mass destruction, as well a similar control over Israel's military arsenal.

Iraq has rejected the return of U.N. arms inspectors who left Baghdad on the eve of U.S. and British military strikes in December 1998.

The U.S. on Monday accused Iraq of taking advantage of three years of no U.N. inspections "to improve all phases of its offensive biological weapons program."

U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice claimed on Sunday that Saddam "is a very dangerous man ... because he is determined to acquire weapons of mass destruction."