Powell Accuses Iraq of Further Material Breach of Obligation to Disarm

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, February 06, 2003

Powell Accuses Iraq of Further Material Breach of Obligation to Disarm

United States Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday accused Iraq of further material breach of its obligation to disarm.

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United States Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday accused Iraq of further material breach of its obligation to disarm.

Making his case at a high-level open meeting of the United Nations Security Council which drew 12 foreign ministers to the UNheadquarters in New York, Powell made a presentation, supported with intercepted telephone conversations, satellite photos and statements from informants, to show that Iraq had defied all demands that it disarm.

Powell told the UN Security Council that the tape recordings, satellite photos and statements from informants constituted irrefutable and undeniable evidence that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is concealing weapons of mass destruction.

Powell began by playing audiotapes of what he said were two Iraqi officials discussing an upcoming inspection by UN officials.

"They are inspecting ammunition you have ... for the possibility there are forbidden ammo," said a voice Powell identified as an Iraqi official in the US translation. "We sent you a message yesterday to clean out the areas, scrap areas, abandoned areas. Make sure there is nothing there."

Powell called the recordings "part and parcel of a policy of evasion and deception that goes back 12 years."

He also showed a satellite photograph of what he said was an active chemical weapons bunker.

He said the photograph showed Iraqi officials cleaning out the bunkers ahead of another inspection. Other photographs showed caravans of trucks at other suspected chemical weapons and ballistic missile sites just two days before inspections resumed.

He said the United States learned through human intelligence sources that Saddam Hussein warned Iraqi scientists that there would be "serious consequences" to them and their families if theyprovide sensitive information to inspectors.

Powell said four different sources have said that Iraq has built sophisticated, mobile biological weapons production and research facilities that could be used to make anthrax, ricin and other agents. Iraq had at least seven of the mobile facilities that could be concealed on 18 trucks, according to Powell.

Powell said the US believes Iraq has a stockpile of between 100and 500 tons of chemical weapons and 16,000 battlefield rockets, and that Saddam Hussein has authorized field commanders to use them.

Powell also said Iraq failed to account for four tons of VX nerve gas, adding that a single drop of the chemical can kill a person.

"We have evidence these weapons existed," he told the Security Council. "What we do not have is evidence from Iraq that they havebeen destroyed or where they are."

He said, "Everything we have seen and heard indicates that, instead of cooperating actively with the inspectors to ensure the success of their mission, Saddam Hussein and his regime are busy doing all they possibly can to ensure that inspectors succeed in finding absolutely nothing."

During the presentation, Powell also accused Iraq of links to the al Qaeda terrorist network, saying members of the network wereoperating freely in Iraq for more than eight months and were usingBaghdad to coordinate their activities.

He said the al Qaeda network was headed up by Abu Musab Zarqawi,a high-ranking Osama bin Laden lieutenant who fled to Iraq after driven out of Afghanistan.

He said Zarqawi has been linked to the assassination of US diplomat Laurence Foley in Jordan last October and the alleged ricin plot that was broken up in London last month. Zarqawi is connected with the Ansar al-Islam, a Taliban-style group that operates in Kurdish-controlled Northern Iraq, according Powell.

The alleged link between Iraq and al Qaeda was part of the highly anticipated presentation laying out what Powell said was evidence that Iraq was developing biological and chemical weapons,and was attempting to obtain nuclear weapons.

Powell said, "We wrote (resolution) 1441 to give Iraq one last chance. Iraq is not so far taking that one last chance. We must not shrink from whatever is ahead of us. We must not fail in our duty and responsibility to the citizens of the countries that are represented by this body."

"The issue before us is not how much time we are willing to give the inspectors to be frustrated by Iraqi obstruction, but howmuch longer are we willing to put up with Iraq's noncompliance before we as a Council, we as the United Nations say: 'Enough. Enough.'"

He also said the United States cannot and should not run the risk for the American people that someday Saddam Hussein would usethe weapons of mass destruction.

"Iraq has now placed itself in danger of serious consequences,"Powell said, adding that Baghdad's denials constitute a "web of lies."

The Bush administration has not committed to seeking a second Security Council resolution on Iraq. But Powell's presentation wasdesigned to gauge support for a new resolution that would declare that Iraq failed to keep its commitment to honor Security Council Resolution 1441, set a deadline for Iraqi compliance, and give theUN blessing for military action if the deadline passes, according diplomats at the UN headquarters.

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