IRAQ: IRAQ HAS INVITED THE UNITED STATES TO SEND ITS OWN INSPECTION TEAM TO SEE WHETHER BAGHDAD WAS PRODUCING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

Record ID: 338359

  • Title: IRAQ: IRAQ HAS INVITED THE UNITED STATES TO SEND ITS OWN INSPECTION TEAM TO SEE WHETHER BAGHDAD WAS PRODUCING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
  • Date: 10th October 2002
  • Summary: (U4) AL-NASSR AL-ADHIM INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX, 20 KMS NORTH OF BAGHDAD, IRAQ (OCTOBER 10, 2002)(REUTERS) 1. LV EXTERIORS OF AL-NASSR INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX 0.04 2. LV/SLV/CU OF FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS TOURING THE SITE (7 SHOTS) 0.28 3. MCU (Arabic) TAHSEEN SALMAN, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF AL-NASSR AL-ADHIM COMPANY, SAYING "This establishment was from the very beginning designated for the production of civilian goods. Some items were manufactured for the weapons industry but these were not components of nuclear weapons or missiles, these were parts of conventional arms which Iraq was allowed to produce." 0.51 4. LV/SLV/SV FACTORY; JOURNALISTS TOURING THE SITE (6 SHOTS) 1.20 (U3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (OCTOBER 10, 2002)(REUTERS) 5. SLV IRAQI DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER RESPONSIBLE FOR IRAQ'S WEAPONS PROGRAMMES ABDUL TAWAB MULLAH HAWAISH ENTERING A NEWS CONFERENCE 1.34 6. MCU (Arabic) HAWAISH SAYING "If the American administration wants to know those two sites (Alfurat and al-Nassr al-Adhim), they are invited to inspect these sites. You are also all invited to visit those two sites. We are ready to open doors wide." 2.04 (U3) FILE (REUTERS) 7. LV/SLV/SV AN IRAQI SITE CALLED FALUJA, PESTICIDE FACTORY (6 SHOTS) 2.34 (U3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (OCTOBER 10, 2002)(REUTERS) 8. SLV/SV/CU STREET SCENES; MEN AROUND NEWSPAPER STAND; NEWSPAPER HEADLINES (6 SHOTS) 2.59 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 25th October 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAAYFKH6B9RC0K8KKH0NX8XNOJ9
  • Story Text: Iraq has invited the United States to send its own
    inspection team to the country to see whether Baghdad was
    producing weapons of mass destruction.



    The invitation, similar to one issued to the U.S.

    Congress two months ago that was rejected, came after U.S.

    President George W. Bush pledged this week to use the "full
    force and fury" of the U.S. military if necessary to make Iraq
    disarm.

    Foreign reporters in Iraq have been visiting the Al-Nassr
    Al-Adhim industrial complex, 20 kilometres north of Baghdad,
    on Thursday (October 10).

    The site, built in 1984 and twice in the past targeted by
    U.S. air forces, is one of the sites allegedly producing parts
    for the nuclear weapons industry.

    Foreign journalists were allowed to tour its warehouses,
    and production lines.

    Residue of material, with a few machines scatterred in
    large, mainly empty warehouses, were the only objects on
    sight.

    "This establishment was from the very beginning designated
    for the production of civilian goods. Some items were
    manufactured for the weapons industry but these were not
    components of nuclear weapons or missiles, these were parts of
    conventional arms which Iraq was allowed to produce," the
    Director General of the Al-Nassr Al-Adhim company Tahseen
    Salman said.

    Earlier in the day, deputy prime minister and minister
    responsible for Iraq's weapons programmes Abdul Tawab Mullah
    Hawaish, did refer to the site at a news conference. He
    dismissed American claims that the Al-Nassr Al-Adhim company
    was part of a complex producing weapons of mass destruction as
    false and part of a propaganda campaign.

    Referring to two factories (Alfurat and al-Nassr al-Adhim),
    he invited Americans to come and visit the sites.

    "The American administration are invited to inspect these
    sites," Hawaish said.

    Iraq agreed at the Vienna meetings two weeks ago that the
    inspectors would be "granted immediate, unconditional and
    unrestricted access to sites," including those termed
    sensitive sites in the past, such as government ministries.

    But the U.N. Security Council is still locked in
    negotiations on how intrusive it wants their inspections to
    be.

    Washington does not want inspectors to return until a new
    U.N. resolution gives them right of access to all Iraqi
    territory and the United States the right to attack if it
    judges Iraq has impeded inspections.

    U.S. President George W. Bush has said he wants a "regime
    change" in Iraq, and is trying to persuade the Congress to
    pass a resolution backing a possible U.S. military strike on
    Iraq if it does not cooperate fully with U.N. weapons
    inspectors.

    Later on Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives is
    expected to approve a resolution authorising a possible U.S.

    military strike on Iraq, a step the Senate was likely to
    follow either later in the day or on Friday (October 11) in a
    triumph for President Bush.

    Iraq has agreed, under intense U.S. pressure, to allow
    arms inspectors to return after a four-year absence, but the
    U.N. Security Council is still locked in negotiations on how
    intrusive it wants their inspections to be.

    Bush wants congressional backing for unilateral action if
    the Security Council does not impose an inspection regime that
    it considers tough enough to uncover any Iraqi weapons
    programmes.

    Meanwhile, U.S. and British warplanes attacked Iraqi air
    defences in two locations on Thursday in a southern "no-fly"
    zone, U.S. officials said. Such attacks have increased in
    recent months. Iraq said U.S. jets had raided the Basra
    civilian airport, an airfield Washington says also serves a
    military purpose.


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