Iraq Slams Latest US WMD Allegations as 'Ridiculous Lies'

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, October 10, 2002

Iraq Slams Latest US WMD Allegations as 'Ridiculous Lies'

Iraq on Thursday dismissed latest US allegations about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs as "ridiculous lies", saying the United States are welcome to visit the suspected sites.

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Iraq on Thursday dismissed latest US allegations about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs as "ridiculous lies", saying the United States are welcome to visit the suspected sites.

"Iraq has no more weapons of mass destruction," Abdul Tawab Mulla Howeish, Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Military Industrialization, told a press conference in response to the latest claims by the White House that Iraq is still working on its banned arms programs.

"The US administration are invited to inspect the Nassr and Furat sites immediately," the minister in charge of Iraq's weapons programs said.

In a bid to back up US President George W. Bush's explicit determination to disarm Iraq, the White House on Monday released two satellite photos allegedly depicting Iraq's rebuilt sites for weapons of mass destruction programs.

But Howeish insisted that these new buildings are under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and used only for electronics researches.

"Iraq rebuilt not only these sites but also roads, hospitals, bridges and everything that has been destroyed and we have the rights to do so," Howeish said, adding "what the American officials said are lies."

Iraq has been under sweeping UN sanctions since its August 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the embargo will not be lifted until the UN has verified that Iraq has eliminated all of its weapons of mass destruction and means to launch them.

Continuous spats about alleged espionage activities between Iraq and the UN arms inspectors, who were commissioned to verify that Iraq has eliminated its weapons of mass destruction, led to crisis in 1997 and 1998, and eventually the brief air war against Baghdad from Dec. 17-19, 1998.

In an official letter addressed to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Sept. 16, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said his government is ready to accept the UN weapon inspectors unconditionally.

But the United States and its closest ally Britain, accusing Iraq of secretly pursuing weapons of mass destruction, have been engaged in a joint diplomatic offensive to push through a new UN Security Council resolution on Iraq's disarmament.

The proposed UN resolution will reportedly set a seven-day deadline for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to accept all its demands and then open all suspected sites, including his palaces, to international weapons inspectors.

The tough demands are coupled with a warning that "all necessary means", including the use of force, would be applied against Iraq if it fails to come into line.

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