Saddam secretly making weapons
wayne mann
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Iraq is continuing secret work on nuclear, chemical and
biological weapons and missiles that are banned under United
Nations sanctions, according to a White House report sent
recently to Congress.
"We are concerned by activity at Iraqi sites known to be
capable of producing [weapons of mass destruction] and
long-range ballistic missiles, as well as by Iraq's long-established
covert procurement activity that could include dual-use items
with [weapons] applications," the report said.
The six-page report, based on intelligence information and
produced by the White House National Security Council, was
required under a fiscal 1999 appropriations act and highlights the
continuing problem caused by Iraq's expulsion of U.N. weapons
inspectors in December.
The Clinton administration began air attacks during Operation
Desert Fox in December, prompting Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein to expel all U.N. weapons inspectors and end all
cooperation with weapons dismantling.
U.S. warplanes are continuing to fly thousands of combat
aircraft missions over Iraq in order to enforce
sanctions that prohibit the Iraqi military from flying its planes or
driving tanks over large sections of the country.
Pentagon officials have described the ongoing actions as "a
low-level war."
The White House report runs counter to recent
administration claims that there is no evidence Iraq is continuing
to work on its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons program
and missile delivery systems.
State Department spokesman James P. Rubin told reporters
in July that "we have no reason to believe there have been
significant efforts to reconstitute their weapons of mass
destruction program."
But the report said: "Some eight years after the Gulf War and
Saddam Hussein's defiance of the international community, we
are under no illusions that Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, will
comply with [United Nations Security Council] resolutions on
disarmament, human rights, accounting for POWs, and the
return of stolen property.
"Our policy of containment plus regime change is designed to
secure the interests of the citizens of Iraq and its neighbors from
an aggressive and hostile regime, while U.N. sanctions help
prevent Saddam Hussein from reconstituting his military or
[weapons of mass destruction] capabilities."
The report said that U.S. forces in the region are "robust."
The United States is prepared to use force "should Saddam
cross our well-established red lines: should he rebuild his
[weapons of mass destruction], should he strike out at his
neighbors, should he challenge allied aircraft in the no-fly zones,
or should he move against people living in the Kurdish-controlled
areas of northern Iraq," the report said.
David Leavy, a National Security Council spokesman, said
the report outlines what is known about the Iraqi weapons
activities.
"We continue to support an internal-monitoring program or
mechanism to be in place in Iraq because Saddam has used
weapons of mass destruction in the past, and there's no reason
to think he won't again in the future," Mr. Leavy said. "That
remains an area of concern."
The report was made public before debate at the U.N.
Security Council on a resolution proposed by Britain and the
Netherlands to set up a new weapons-inspection system.
"We have made clear to Saddam that one of our red lines is
the reconstitution of weapons of mass destruction," Mr. Leavy
said.
The report stated that as long as U.N. weapons inspectors
are barred from working in Iraq, "our concerns about the
potential meaning of these activities will persist."
According to the report, U.S. spy satellites and electronic
eavesdropping on Iraq can provide only limited information on
the Iraqi weapons programs so weapons inspectors on the
ground are needed.
On Iraq's nuclear program, the report said the Iraqis did not
have the capability to produce fuel for nuclear weapons in
December, when inspection ended. However, "we cannot rule
out continued Iraqi nuclear weapons research."
Questions remain about Iraqi nuclear weapons activities, the
report said.
Discrepancies still exist about the amount of chemical
weapons held by the Iraqis, and Baghdad has not fully explained
the extent of its germ-weapons programs. "Iraq retains the
industrial capability and knowledge base to develop [biological
weapons] agents quickly," the report said.
As for long-range missiles banned under U.N. sanctions, the
report states that the Iraqis may be hiding at least seven
complete missile systems and major components.
The report states that priority issues include resolving
concerns that Iraq still has banned warheads capable of
delivering chemical or biological weapons, including warheads
filled with the nerve agent VX. The Iraqis also may have
"single-use liquid missile propellent and indigenous missile
production" programs hidden from inspectors.
The report concluded that a long-term weapons monitoring
method is critical to detecting Baghdad's efforts to rebuild its
weapons of mass destruction.
Scott Ritter, a former chief inspector in Iraq for the United
Nations, said in an interview that the report highlights
contradictory policies by the administration. It appears to be
aimed at bolstering the administration's covert efforts to oust
Saddam rather than getting international weapons inspectors
back inside Iraq, he said.
"This paper shows that we are not really serious about the
issue of weapons inspections," Mr. Ritter said. "If we were
serious, we would understand the requirement for a new
approach to inspections that achieves as much as we can get in
terms of a viable inspection process.
"This is purely a smoke screen on the part of the
administration to legitimize its containment policy and the
ultimate removal of Saddam."
One senior U.N. official told The Washington Times: "If we
get back in, we may have to approach the inspections like
starting from square one." He confirmed that the United Nations
may be forced to engage in new searches for weapons facilities
built since the inspections ended.
It could take a long time -- years, he explained.
Marine Corps Sgt. John Baker, a spokesman for the U.S.
Central Command, said U.S. and allied warplanes have flown
more than 14,500 patrol flights over the southern Iraq air
exclusion zone since December 1998, when the military
launched Operation Desert Fox.
"There have been 51 strikes and about 120 targets have been
fired on" since December, Sgt. Baker said.
The command, which is in charge of the 31,000 troops in the
Persian Gulf region, has logged about 215 Iraqi "provocations"
that prompted retaliation by U.S. and allied warplanes, Sgt.
Baker said.
About 120 of the provocations were Iraqi aircraft
penetrations into the air exclusion zone, which extends over most
of Iraq south of Baghdad, he said.
Over northern Iraq, the combat picture since the U.S.
bombing raids in December is similar. Air Force jets dropped
eight bombs on northern Iraqi targets yesterday, a Pentagon
official said.
Stewart Stogel contributed to this report from New York.
\\/ayne //\ann
"The American people are tired of liars and people who pretend
to be something they're not."
-- Hillary Clinton - 1992 60 Minutes interview
Reverend Powerlib
>From: t...@callamerica.net (wayne mann)
>Date: Thu, 02 September 1999 12:17 PM EDT
>Message-id: <37f2a318...@news.callamerica.net>
As long as clinton is in office, nothing will be done about this.