Iraq's arms dossier full of holes, say British

LONDON - British officials analysing Iraq's 12,000-page weapons declaration are "very disappointed" at its contents, saying it contains big gaps which may cost Iraq the chance to avoid war, the Financial Times reports.

The paper quoted an unnamed Government official as saying the declaration, which Iraq handed over to the United Nations on December 8, failed to meet many of Britain's concerns about chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

"The analysis is that it's very disappointing and that he [Iraqi President Saddam Hussein] has missed an important opportunity," the official was quoted as saying.

United States officials and UN diplomats have already said that, at first sight, the declaration failed to account for all Iraq's chemical and biological agents.

Washington has threatened to disarm Iraq by force if it does not tell the whole truth about its arms programmes.

Britain released its own dossier detailing its case for action against Iraq in September, saying Iraq was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction and had the military planning to launch one at 45 minutes' notice.

At the time, Baghdad denied the British claims, but the Financial Times said officials had hoped Iraq would directly address some of Britain's concerns in its declaration.

"But he [Saddam] has ignored large parts of it. On chemical, biological and nuclear capability, there is a lot we think is missing," the official told the Financial Times.

A spokeswoman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Downing St office had no comment on the Financial Times story but said the Iraqi declaration was still being evaluated.

Iraq submitted the dossier after last month's Security Council resolution 1441, which threatened serious consequences if Baghdad did not come clean and co-operate with UN weapons inspectors, who have returned to the country after a four-year absence.

So far only the UN and the five permanent members of the Security Council have copies of the document. Chief UN arms inspector Hans Blix is expected to give the council a preliminary assessment of the dossier's contents this week.

Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, branded US President George W. Bush a warmonger and hypocrite.

He said on the US Fox News Sunday programme that Bush was "driving America to a hostile imperialist policy" that was dangerous for both the US 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."

If a US-led war with Iraq smears blood on his hands as an American citizen, actor Sean Penn wants to know why - and he has gone to Baghdad to find out. He toured a children's hospital and had talks with Aziz.

"Absolutely I think war can be avoided, but obviously it's going to take enormous commitment on the part of the Iraqi Government as well as the US."

The former Hollywood bad boy paid for a US$56,000 ($109,000) advertisement in the Washington Post in October accusing Bush of stifling debate on Iraq. Penn said it would "suit us all" if Iraq fully disclosed any banned weapons it still had, but questioned whether US national security concerns about this justified war.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: Iraq