Iraq Says UN Inspectors Find no Proof of Alleged Banned Weapons

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, December 27, 2002

Iraq Says UN Inspectors Find no Proof of Alleged Banned Weapons

Iraq said on Thursday that United Nations arms inspectors have so far found no "direct or indirect" proof of the US allegations that Iraq is secretly developing weapons of mass destruction.

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Iraq said on Thursday that United Nations arms inspectors have so far found no "direct or indirect" proof of the US allegations that Iraq is secretly developing weapons of mass destruction.

Gen. Hussam Mohammed Amin, chief of the National Monitoring Directorate, Iraq's liaison body with the UN inspectors, made the remarks at a news conference in Baghdad.

The Iraqi official also denied Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's allegation that Iraq had transferred banned weapons to Syria.

Iraq said on Thursday that United Nations arms inspectors have so far found no "direct or indirect" proof of the US allegations that Iraq is secretly developing weapons of mass destruction.

Gen. Hussam Mohammed Amin, chief of the National Monitoring Directorate, Iraq's liaison body with the UN inspectors, made the remarks at a news conference in Baghdad.

The Iraqi official also denied Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's allegation that Iraq had transferred banned weapons to Syria.

"This is absolute lies. These allegations are baseless," Amin said, "Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction."

Sharon said in an interview with Israel's Channel Two television on Tuesday that Israel suspected Baghdad was transferring arms to Syria to hide them from UN weapons inspectors, but gave no evidence to support the intelligence.

Currently, over 100 UN arms experts have been carrying out their almost daily field operations in Iraq searching for banned weapons.

No dispute between the inspectors and their Iraqi "minders" has been reported so far and the Iraqi side has showed an apparent willingness to cooperate.

By Jan. 27, the inspectors will present their first formal report to the UN Security Council about Iraq's weapons programs.

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