Iraq says has no banned arms, is helping inspectors
( 2002-12-16 11:22 ) (7 )

Three top Iraqi ministers insisted that Baghdad would cooperate fully with U.N. arms experts to disprove U.S. and British accusations that it still held weapons of mass destruction.

Scores of arms inspectors visited nine suspect plants on Sunday as U.S. and British planes attacked what Washington said were anti-aircraft artillery sites in a no-fly zone in southern Iraq.

Iraq said the jets had hit civilian installations and that Iraqi anti-aircraft and missile batteries had fired back.

In London, opponents of Iraq's President Saddam Hussein agreed on a political blueprint for the country's future, calling for a federal and tolerant Iraq if Saddam is ousted.

But it is not clear what support the U.S.-backed delegates have in their homeland. Saddam has dominated Iraq for 30 years and most of the delegates have been in exile for decades.

Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz, meanwhile, branded President Bush a warmonger and hypocrite.

He said on the U.S. "Fox News Sunday" program that Bush was "driving America to a hostile imperialist policy" that was dangerous for both the United States and the world.

Aziz said of the arms search "They will not find any weapons of mass destruction because, simply, we don't have them."

In an interview with Reuters, Oil Minister Rasheed said "The whole public opinion will see how Iraq is wise, Iraq is truthful. It has absolutely no weapons of mass destruction."

Asked if Iraq would comply with a U.N. demand -- pushed for by the United States -- for a list of scientists associated with its weapons programs, he said "They will try many questions. We will deal with them."

"Iraq won't give the American administration the chance and the possibility to create such a confrontation and a crisis," Rasheed said.

BRITAIN "VERY DISAPPOINTED"

British officials analyzing Iraq's lengthy dossier on its weapons programs are "very disappointed" at its contents, saying they think much information is missing and this could cost Iraq the chance to avoid war, the Financial Times newspaper reported on Monday.

Their view echoed remarks by U.S. officials and U.N. diplomats, who said last week the dossier appeared to fall short of the full disclosure required by the U.N. Security Council to avoid severe consequences.

Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix wrote to an Iraqi official on Thursday demanding the list of scientists -- as authorized by the Security Council -- by the end of the month.

Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan also said in an interview with the Qatar-based Arabic TV channel al-Jazeera that Baghdad would continue to cooperate with the inspectors. But he said Iraq doubted whether it could ward off a U.S.-led attack.

Ramadan said Iraqis were prepared to inflict great harm on American troops in the event of war and urged neighboring Arab and Muslim countries not to support an attack.

The Pentagon said on Sunday it had no information about an alleged movement of U.S. troops and equipment into northern Iraq from Turkey, reported by Turkey's NTV and Jazeera television.

Plants inspected by arms experts on Sunday included missile sites, a former nuclear research center, a chemical complex and a glass and ceramics company. They searched a dozen locations the previous day in their busiest round of inspections so far.

The inspectors returned last month after a four-year absence to check Iraq's claim that it no longer has any long-range missiles or chemical, biological or nuclear arms.

At the London conference, the final draft of a resolution hammered out by around 330 delegates representing six opposition groups recognized by the United States vowed to refuse foreign guardianship and occupation of Iraq if Saddam is toppled.

CALL FOR FEDERAL DEMOCRACY

The draft, seen by Reuters but still to be formally announced, said Iraq's new government should be a federal democracy and Islam should remain the state religion.

On the sidelines of the conference, Bush's special envoy for "free Iraqis," Zalmay Khalilzad, told Reuters Television News: "We don't want war with Iraq. We want Saddam to comply with U.N. resolutions, and freedom and liberty for the Iraqi people."

Khalilzad was appointed Bush's "special envoy and ambassador at large for free Iraqis" earlier this month in a move seen as reinforcing Washington's policy of "regime change" in Iraq.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri complained to the United Nations about U.S. and British policing of a self-declared "no-fly" zone in south Iraq and demanded an end to the flights.

Washington said U.S. and British jets had attacked Iraqi air defense facilities in southern Iraq on Sunday.

Iraq does not recognize the no-fly zones, which were set up after the 1991 Gulf War to protect a Kurdish enclave in the north and Shi'ite Muslims in the south from Saddam's forces.

Meanwhile, Russia's biggest oil firm, LUKOIL, said Moscow's support for the November 8 U.N. resolution sending arms experts back to Iraq had prompted Baghdad to scrap a $3.7 billion deal to develop a huge Iraqi oilfield. The cancellation was seen as an expression of irritation with an old ally's disloyalty.

Oil Minister Rasheed told Reuters the contract had been scrapped because LUKOIL had not honored commitments, but that Iraq would consider awarding it to another Russian firm.