Iraq: US and Britain ask for the impossible

The Iraqi Foreign Minister Muhammad Saeed al-Sahaf on Sunday that the US and Britain are demanding the "impossible" in order to show off that "Baghdad does not honor UN resolutions."

In a press conference he held in Baghdad al-Sahaf added that Iraq had previously given both UNSCOM and the International committee for Atomic Energy more than 2 million documents since 1991. He added that Baghdad carried out all items concerning disarmament stated in the UN resolution 687.

For his part, Iraq's ambassador at the UN Nizar Hamdoun said that the document UNSCOM asks for will be handed to it through a " certain mechanism."

He added the said document will be delivered for the UN inspectors in the presence of the UN chief personal representative in Baghdad Prakash Shah.

UNSCOM' s chairman Richard Butler had earlier asked Baghdad to hand over documents which he said were signed by the inspectors and confiscated by Iraq from them. Butler said the document includes number of chemical ammunition destroyed during the war between Iraq and Iran during 1980-1988.

Al-Sahaf described the allegation of Butler regarding Iraq's refusal to deliver new documents as being allegations that are based on "Butler's sick imagination and that his behavior will create a new problem between Iraq and the U.N."