Powell presents US case of Iraq's failure to disarm; Iraq replies to allegations
Iraq-USA, Politics, 2/6/2003

Armed with satellite images, transcripts of intercepted telephone conversations and other intelligence data, United States Secretary of State Colin Powell today presented the United Nations Security Council with what he called "solid" evidence that showed Iraq still has not complied with resolutions calling for it to disarm.

"My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we're giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence," Mr. Powell told the ministerial-level session of the 15-member body. Before hearing Mr. Powell's presentation, the Council members decided to grant Iraq's request to allow its representative sit at the Council table and make a statement at the end of the meeting.

The US Secretary of State stressed that Iraq still poses a threat and remains in "material breach" of Council resolutions. "Indeed, by its failure to seize its one last opportunity to come clean and disarm, Iraq has put itself in deeper material breach and close to the day when it will face serious consequences for its continued defiance of this Council," he said. "We must not fail in our duty and our responsibility to the citizens of our countries."

Mr. Powell stressed that Iraq's continued efforts to conceal evidence and documents from UN inspectors, the active interference by Saddam Hussein himself to prevent interviews with Iraqi individuals, and a host of other activities that demonstrated its non-compliance were all violations of the terms of Security Council Resolution 1441. That text, he emphasized, states that "false statements and omissions" and a failure by Iraq "to comply with, and cooperate fully" in the implementation of the resolution should constitute a further material breach of its obligations.

"This body places itself in danger of irrelevance if it allows Iraq to continue to defy its will without responding effectively and immediately," Mr. Powell warned. "The issue before us is not how much more time we are willing to give the inspectors to be frustrated by Iraqi obstruction, but how much longer are we willing to put up with Iraq's non-compliance before we say: 'Enough!'"

Referring to the audio-visual evidence he presented to the Council, Mr. Powell said the material had US and foreign origins, and came from technical sources, such as intercepted telephone conversations and photos taken by satellites. "Other sources are people who have risked their lives to let the world know what Saddam Hussein is really up to," he said.

"I cannot tell you everything that we know, but what I can share with you, when combined with what all of us have learned over the years, is deeply troubling," Mr. Powell said. "What you will see is an accumulation of facts and disturbing patterns of behaviour. The facts and Iraq's behaviour demonstrate that Saddam Hussein and his regime have made no effort - no effort - to disarm as required by the international community. Indeed, the facts and Iraq's behaviour show that Saddam Hussein and his regime are concealing their efforts to produce more weapons of mass destruction."

The satellite photos shown by Mr. Powell reflected what he called "concealment" activity undertaken in response to the resumption of UN inspections last November, while other images depicted suspected manufacturing sites for biological and chemical weapons. Mr. Powell also played tapes of intercepted conversations between Iraqi military personnel that he said indicated a concerted effort to hide or destroy evidence of weapons of mass destruction.

Mr. Powell also said there has been no indication that Saddam Hussein has ever abandoned his nuclear weapons programme. According to testimony provided by defectors, Iraq already possesses two of the three key components needed to build a nuclear bomb, a cadre of scientists with the necessary expertise and a bomb design. "Since 1998, his efforts to reconstitute his nuclear programme have been focuses on acquiring the third and last component - sufficient fissile material to produce a nuclear explosion," he said.

Turning to terrorism, Mr. Powell said Iraq had a long history of supporting terrorist organizations and that there was a potentially "more sinister nexus" between Baghdad and the Al-Qaida network. He said Iraq's denials of any ties with the organization are not credible.

"None of this should come as a surprise to any of us," Mr. Powell said. "Terrorism has been a tool of Saddam for decades. Saddam was a supporter of terrorism long before these terrorist networks had a name, and this support continues. The nexus of poisons and terror is new; the nexus of Iraq and terror is old. The combination is lethal."

On human rights abuses, Mr. Powell recounted how Mr. Hussein used mustard and nerve gases against the Kurds in 1988, successfully invaded neighbouring States "with provocation," and "ruthlessly eliminates" anyone who dares to dissent. "Underlying all that I have said, underlying all the facts and the patterns of behaviour I have identified, is Saddam Hussein's contempt for the will of this Council, his contempt for the truth, and most damning of all, his utter contempt for human life," he said.

"We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction and make more," Mr. Powell said. "Given Saddam Hussein's history of aggression, given what we know of his grandiose plans, given what we know of his terrorist associations, and given his determination to exact revenge on those who have opposed him, should we take the risk that he will not someday use these weapons at a time and a place and in a manner of his choosing - at a time when the world is in a much weaker position to respond?"

Mr. Powell said the United States "will not - we cannot - run that risk to the American people. Leaving Saddam Hussein in possession of weapons of mass destruction for a few more months or years is not an option. Not in a post-September 11th world."

Addressing the Security Council after United States Secretary of State Colin Powell presented evidence of Iraq's failure to disarm, the Iraqi representative to the United Nations today refuted the US charges and reaffirmed his country's readiness to continue to fully cooperate with UN inspectors.

"The pronouncements in Mr. Powell's statements on weapons of mass destruction are utterly unrelated to the truth. No new information was provided, mere sound recordings that cannot be ascertained as genuine," Ambassador Mohammed A. Aldouri told the Council at the end of its ministerial-level meeting, chaired by Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer of Germany, which holds the rotating Presidency of the 15-nation body for the month of February.

Ambassador Aldouri stressed that Iraq was totally free of weapons of mass destruction and that the forthcoming visit of the chief UN inspectors - Hans Blix of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and Mohamed ElBaradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - "will be a further opportunity to verify and ascertain the validity of [US] allegations."

In a brief, point-by-point response to Mr. Powell's presentation, Ambassador Aldouri said Iraq had submitted an "accurate, comprehensive and updated" declaration of 12,000 pages, including detailed information on previous Iraqi programmes as well as updated information on Iraqi industries in various fields.

After UN inspections resumed last November, Ambassador Aldouri noted, UNMOVIC and IAEA inspectors have so far carried out 575 inspections covering 321 sites. "Inspectors ascertained that all the allegationsÉwere not true," he said. "This confirms Iraq's declaration that it is free from weapons of mass destruction and that its declaration is truthful and accurate as documented by the two technical agencies entrusted by the Council to undertake that task."

The Iraqi Ambassador also cited recent statements to the press by Mr. Blix that inspectors "did not ascertain any of the scenarios alleged by Powell, in that Iraqi officials were moving proscribed material inside or outside Iraq aiming at concealment." The UNMOVIC chief also confirmed that he did not find enough reasons to believe that Iraq was sending its scientists outside Iraq to prevent them from being interviewed, and that he had no reason to believe US President George W. Bush was correct in his State of the Union address in saying that Iraqi intelligence agents were posing as scientists for the interviews, Mr. Aldouri said.

He dismissed allegations that trucks leave sites prior to the arrival of inspection teams as "a false accusation," noting that inspections occur "suddenly and instantaneously," without prior notification to the Iraqi side. "Furthermore, UNMOVIC and the IAEA have their own sources for satellite imagery and they use helicopters for surveillance and inspection activities," Ambassador Aldouri said.

Responding to Mr. Powell's use of intercepted telephone conversations as evidence the Iraqis were taking steps to conceal its weapons programmes, Ambassador Aldouri said scientific and technical progress has reached such a level "that would allow the fabrication of such allegations and would allow for them to be offered in the way that Mr. Powell has presented."

As for the supposed relationship between Iraq and the Al-Qaida organization, Ambassador Aldouri, quoting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, said, "'If we had a relationship with Al-Qaida and we believed in that relationship, we would not be ashamed to admit it. We have no relationship with Al-Qaida.'"

The Iraqi representative said his country offered security and peace, and reiterated its commitment to continue proactive cooperation with the inspection teams "so as to allow them to finish their tasks as soon as possible and verify that Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction in order to lift the unjust sanctions imposed upon it and ensure respect of its national security."

Here is a summary of the statement:
Statement by Iraq

MOHAMMED A. ALDOURI (Iraq) said his country would provide detailed and technical explanatory answers to the allegations made in Mr. Powell's statement.Ê What had been mentioned in the presentation was utterly unrelated to the truth.Ê No new information had been provided, except for sound recordings that could not be ascertained as genuine.Ê What had been presented contained incorrect allegations, unnamed and unknown sources, as well as assumptions in line with the American policy towards one known objective.

He said President Hussein had reiterated in his interview yesterday that Iraq was free of weapons of mass destruction, a statement repeated by numerous Iraqi officials for more than a decade.Ê Mr. Powell could have spared himself, his team and the Council the effort by presenting his allegations directly to UNMOVIC and the IAEA in accordance with resolution 1441.Ê He could have left the inspectors to work in peace and without pressure.Ê

At any rate, the forthcoming visit of Mr. Blix and Mr. ElBaradei on the eighth and ninth of this month would be another opportunity to verify the validity of those allegations, he continued.Ê The ongoing inspections had proven the falsity of previous allegations and reports issued by the United States and the United Kingdom.Ê Iraq had submitted an accurate, comprehensive and updated declaration of 12,000 pages, he continued.Ê It included detailed information on previous Iraqi programmes, as well as updated information on the country's industries in various fields.

The inspectors had begun their activities in Iraq as of 27 November, he said.Ê By 4 February, the inspection teams had conducted 575 inspections all over Iraq covering 321 sites.Ê The sites referred to by President Bush and Prime Minister Blair in their September reports, as well as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) report of October 2002, topped the list of the sites inspected by the United Nations teams.Ê The inspections had ascertained that all the allegations contained in those reports were not true.Ê That confirmed Iraq's declaration that it was free from weapons of mass destruction.Ê It was well known that the inspectors had taken samples of water, soil, plants, air, factory and production remnants throughout Iraq.Ê The analysis of those samples conducted by UNMOVIC and the IAEA confirmed the absence of any indication of proscribed chemical,

biological or radiological agents, or any proscribed activities in any part of Iraq.

In his statement to The New York Times on 30 January, Mr. Blix had confirmed that the inspectors had not ascertained any of the scenarios alleged by
Mr. Powell, including movement of proscribed materials aiming at concealment.Ê He had confirmed that he had not found enough reasons to believe that Iraq was sending scientists out of the country to prevent them from being interviewed.Ê He also had no reason to believe what President Bush had said in his State of the Union address regarding Iraqi intelligence agents posing as scientists for the interviews.Ê Iraq was encouraging its scientists to participate in the interviews requested by UNMOVIC and the IAEA.

As for the mobile laboratories, he said that Mr. Blix had stated that UNMOVIC to date had found no proof of those laboratories' existence.Ê His country did not object to overflights of U2 planes.Ê The obstruction to those overflights stemmed from the presence of United States and United Kingdom warplanes in the illegally imposed no-flight zones.Ê It would be sufficient if those flights were suspended during the U2 overflights.Ê Allegations that trucks had left sites before the arrival of inspection teams were unfounded.Ê Inspection teams, after all, arrived unannounced, and UNMOVIC and the IAEA had their own resources for surveillance.

Programmes for weapons of mass destruction were not like an aspirin pill easily hidden.Ê Such programmes required huge facilities which could not be concealed, and inspectors, criss-crossing the country had not found them. Regarding the sound recordings, he said scientific and technical progress had allowed for fabrication of such allegations.Ê As for the alleged relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda, he said that, recently, Saddam Hussein had said that if such relationship had existed, he would not have been ashamed to admit it.Ê Such a relationship did not exist, he had said.

Analysts at the CIA had complained that administration officials had exaggerated reports on that issue, he said.Ê Mr. Straw of the United Kingdom had set aside intelligence reports from his own Government asserting that such a relationship did not exist.Ê Mr. Powell's assertion that Iraq had used chemical weapons against his own people was surprising.Ê A CIA official had recently stated that the United States Administration had known since 1998 that Iraq had not used such weapons for the simple reason it did not have the weapons used in the mentioned incident.

The clear goal of the Council meeting today and Mr. Powell's presentation was to sell the idea of war against Iraq without any legal, moral or political justification, he said.Ê He reiterated Iraq's commitment to continue proactive cooperation with the inspection teams so they could verify as soon as possible that Iraq was free of weapons of mass destruction in order for unjust sanctions to be lifted.Ê Regional security could be ensured by disarming weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, including the huge arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in Israel, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 14 of Council resolution 687 (1991).

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