Iraq Vows to Disprove Powell's Evidence on Banned Arms

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, February 04, 2003

Iraq Vows to Disprove Powell's Evidence on Banned Arms

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Iraq said on Monday it will disprove any evidence US Secretary of State Colin Powell may present to the UN Security Council to support the US allegations that Iraq is secretly developing weapons of mass destruction.

"I can't prejudge what he is going to present and whatever it is, we'll certainly react and ask the two (UN arms inspection) agencies to check it if it is in their competence," Amer al-Saadi, a senior adviser to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, told a group ofvisiting deputies from the European Parliament.

Saadi was referring to the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International Atomic EnergyAgency (IAEA), both of which are commissioned to verify that Iraq has eliminated all of its banned weapons.

"If it is not in their competence, then we'll do our utmost to refute those allegations because we are on firm grounds and we havenothing to hide," he added.

The presidential adviser said Baghdad did not expect Powell to "come up with evidence of a smoking gun" when the US secretary of state goes to New York on Wednesday to make the case to disarm Saddam before the UN Security Council.

"It (the evidence) will be a mixture of high-tech pictures and perhaps recordings of what are supposed to be telephone calls between Iraqi officials, but there are plenty of Iraqis who could pose as officials," Saadi said.

He predicted that the United States would not succeed in convincing the UN Security Council to disarm Iraq by authorizing a war.

"I would be very surprised that the Americans would be able to convince the Security Council members of their point of view," he said. "I think they are failing and will continue to fail, even Colin Powell."

"I will work until the end, if they choose to go the unilateral way, if they will attack Iraq regardless of the Security Council resolutions, then it will be a sad day for all of you, not just forIraq," Saadi told the European Parliament members.

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