Baghdad says U.S. spreading lies about its nuclear capability
Iraq-USA, Politics, 5/8/1998

Iraq on Thursday accused the U.S. of deliberately obstructing the closure of the Iraqi nuclear file at the U.N. through leaking fabricated reports to the press with the objective of perpetuating U.N. economic sanctions which have been imposed on Iraq for seven years.

Spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Culture and Information said the U.S. has leaked a report to the U.S. NewsWeek magazine stating that the International Atomic Energy Agency is currently investigating a proposal offered by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qader Khan to Iraq in 1990 to help in making a nuclear bomb.

The spokesman said such a news leak aims at keeping Iraq from regaining its legitimate rights to lift the sanctions imposed on its people. The spokesman elaborated on the story of the Pakistani scientist by saying that a Greek person in the middle of 1990 proposed an offer to the Iraqi authorities to provide Iraq with samples of nuclear weapons manufacture, claiming he would get it from the Pakistani scientist, but "the Iraqi authorities neglected the offer on its conviction that the whole story was an intelligence trick."

The spokesman continued that the Iraqi authorities informed the IAEA about the offer and gave necessary explanations on the issue and its file was closed at that time. Yet, he indicated, "The U.S. government has once against revived it and leaked it into the press as part of its campaign aiming at obstructing Iraq's legitimate demand to lift all forms of sanctions imposed on the Iraqi people.

Previous Stories:
  Iraqi deputy premier calls for Arab support to break siege   (5/6/1998)
  Iraq warns U.N. against prolonging sanctions   (5/6/1998)
  Iraq cleared of nuclear weapons, but sanctions stay   (4/28/1998)

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