UN Council delays Iraqi arms document distribution

UNITED NATIONS - UN Security Council members decided on Friday to delay distribution of Iraq's mammoth and eagerly awaited declaration of its dangerous weapons programs until UN inspectors had a chance to screen it.

Iraq will present the document to the United Nations in Baghdad on Saturday at 8 pm, local time, one day before it is due under a tough November 8 council resolution that laid the groundwork for a resumption of weapons inspections 10 days ago and possible war against Iraq.

Although the declaration, estimated to be at least 10,000 pages long, will be delivered to New York on Sunday, the 15 Security Council members will not receive a copy until later, according to Colombia's UN ambassador, Alfonso Valdivieso, this month's council president.

No date was given for the declaration's release by Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector, who told reporters: "Now this will take a little bit of time."

Diplomats said it could take a week before council members, including the United States, would get a copy but they would discuss logistics sometime next week.

The document will be screened to see if any parts contribute to weapons proliferation, such as how to build a bomb. Blix said it would be judged in line with international treaties on chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

The declaration is to be flown on Sunday from Baghdad to Vienna, seat of the International Atomic Energy Agency, responsible for nuclear arms inspection teams.

In New York, it will be given to Blix's UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, known as UNMOVIC, in charge of accounting for chemical and biological arms and ballistic weapons programs.

Both UNMOVIC and the IAEA, headed by Mohamed ElBaradei, will scan the material to see which parts should be held from public view and then reproduce it for transmission to council members. About 8,000 pages are for UNMOVIC, and 2000 for the IAEA, diplomats said.

"While all of us were thinking we might be reacting to the declaration on Monday, it's going to take a bit longer than that," said one western Security Council diplomat.

The resolution not only required Iraq to submit any information on its past and current weapons programs but give in detail any materials in its civilian industries, such as petrochemicals, that could be used in illegal weapons.

Iraq's UN ambassador, Mohamed Aldouri, said he had been told "there are new elements in the report" but he did not know what there were. "It is a very huge, a very thick report."

He repeated Baghdad's claim that Iraq no longer had any weapons of mass destruction, despite US assertions to the contrary. "Everything has been destroyed. Iraq is clean of any kind of mass destruction weapons. We provided all information they need," Aldouri said.

He was asked if the declaration contained embarrassing information on which countries or firms had helped Iraq build its arsenal. But Aldouri said he had not seen the document.

MATERIAL BREACH

The Bush administration has been laying the groundwork to declare Iraq in "material breach" of the Nov. 8 resolution, saying they have evidence, which they have not released to inspectors, that Baghdad has weapons of mass destruction. Such a declaration could lead to war.

But the resolution makes it clear that any breach would have to be verified by the inspectors, either on the ground or through their own analysis. The Security Council, in adopting a tough resolution, wanted to make sure Washington could not declare a violation by itself and then attack Iraq, claiming UN backing.

The resolution also says that false statements in the declaration have to be coupled with other violations before a new material breach can be declared to the council, which has to assess the information but not necessarily authorize military action.

Consequently, the White House has criticized Blix and the inspectors on three consecutive days this week, saying he was resisting more aggressive inspections and was hesitant to spirit Iraqi scientists out of the country.

"We are not going to trash the inspectors," a British official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We see inspections as a real last opportunity for Iraq, not as a trip wire for war."

Other diplomats said privately Washington seemed to be rushing the inspectors, who only returned to Baghdad 10 days ago after a four-year hiatus, in order to keep its own military timetable.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: Iraq