Key findings in the UN arms inspectors' reports
Key findings in yesterday’s reports by UN weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei to the UN Security Council on Iraq’s compliance with disarmament resolutions.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
* No prohibited nuclear activities were identified in inspections of buildings and facilities identified through satellite photos as having been constructed or modified since inspectors left in 1998.
* Aluminium tubes Iraq attempted to buy would not be suitable for nuclear centrifuges, and apparently were intended to reverse engineer conventional rockets, but the issue is still being investigated.
* Nuclear inspectors continue to investigate reports that Iraq tried to import uranium after 1991 and would appreciate receiving more information.
CHEMICAL WEAPONS
* Inspectors have information indicating that, contrary to Iraq’s claims, its experts worked on the problem of purifying and stabilising the deadly nerve agent VX.
* Inspectors reported indications that VX was weaponised, again contrary to Iraqi claims.
* Inspectors have questions about chemicals used to produce VX that Iraq says were lost during the 1991 Gulf War bombing or unilaterally destroyed by Iraq.
* An Iraqi document reveals the country dropped 13,000 chemical bombs between 1983 and 1988, but its declaration says it dropped 19,500 bombs, leaving 6,500 bombs containing about 1,000 tons of chemical agent unaccounted for.
* A number of warheads for 122mm chemical rockets were recently discovered in a relatively new bunker, which means they must have been moved in the past few years when Iraq should not have had such munitions. The discovery of these rockets “could also be the tip of a submerged iceberg,” Blix said.
* Inspectors discovered a laboratory quantity of thiodiglycol, a precursor of mustard gas.
* Inspectors are evaluating chemical processing equipment, destroyed by previous UN inspectors but repaired by Iraq to produce chlorine and phenols, and will decide whether it should be destroyed.
BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS
* There is strong evidence Iraq produced more than the 8,500 litres of anthrax it said it produced and destroyed after the Gulf War ended in 1991.
* Iraq did not declare 1,400lbs of bacterial growth media that it previously reported and that can be used to produce biological and chemical weapons.
MISSILES
* Significant questions remain about whether Iraq kept SCUD-type missiles after the Gulf War.
* Iraq has developed a liquid-fuelled missile, the Al Samoud Two, and a solid propellant missile, the Al Fatah, both of which exceed the permitted range of 94 miles and may violate a UN ban.
* Iraq has refurbished its missile production infrastructure, including a number of previously destroyed casting chambers that could produce motors for missiles with ranges significantly greater than 94 miles.
* Iraq has imported a number of missile-related items in recent years, in violation of UN sanctions, including 380 rocket engines for the Al Samoud Two.
* Iraq declared that it recently imported chemicals used in propellants, test instruments and guidance and control system which inspectors say were illegally brought into the country and may be used for illegal purposes.
OTHER FINDINGS
* Iraq provided “a good deal of new material and information” on missiles and biotechnology from 1998 onward, which inspectors welcomed.
