Iraq to destroy Al-Samoud

Iraq will comply with United Nations demands that it destroy its Al-Samoud 2 missiles and could begin dismantling the weapons on Saturday, I...

Iraq will comply with United Nations demands that it destroy its Al-Samoud 2 missiles and could begin dismantling the weapons on Saturday, Iraqi sources said on Friday. The sources confirmed that Baghdad had sent a letter to Hans Blix, Chief UN Weapons Inspector, saying it would obey his order to destroy the missiles.

The sources said the demand was unjust and ‘‘seemed to have political aims’’, but added that the destruction of the missiles ‘‘could start’’ on Saturday. Destruction of missiles would be a blow to Iraq as it prepares for a possible invasion by US-led forces.

But US says destroying missiles won’t be enough

Washington: The United States insisted on Friday that if Iraq obeys UN orders to destroy its ballistic missiles, the move will still leave Baghdad far short of UN demands and not stop the march toward a possible war. US President George W. Bush ‘‘views this as continued trickery, continued deception. I think it’s fair to say that the Iraqi regime is a deception wrapped in a lie inside a fraud,’’ said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. (Reuters)

UN arms inspectors say the missiles’ range exceeds the 150km limit set in UN resolutions, and Blix gave Iraq until March 1 to begin destroying the missiles and most of their components.

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The United States dismissed the Iraqi letter, sent on Thursday, and pressed on with preparations for a war against Iraq, deploying a sixth aircraft carrier in the region and B-2 Stealth bombers.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, asked about the latest Iraqi comment, told a news conference in Madrid: ‘‘This is not time for games.’’

The Iraqi letter, from General Amir Al-Saadi, a top adviser to President Saddam Hussein, said Baghdad accepted ‘‘in principle’’ the destruction of the missiles.

But it said Blix’s decision was ‘‘unjust and did not take into consideration the scientific facts regarding the issue’’.

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‘‘In order to establish a time-table and other technical and procedural criteria required for implementation, we suggest dispatching a technical team urgently for this purpose,’’ the letter added.

Blix, in a leaked draft of a report expected to reach Security Council members over the weekend or Monday, said results of three months of inspections had been problematic. ‘‘Iraq could have made greater efforts to find any remaining proscribed items or provide credible evidence showing the absence of such items,’’ Blix wrote. ‘‘The results in terms of disarmament have been very limited so far.’’ He said his teams had not been able to conduct interviews with Iraqi scientists and others ‘‘without a tape recorder running or an Iraqi witness present’’.

Blix avoided any blunt language that could trigger war and said Iraq belatedly had taken a number of steps in the last month that could account for some of its weapons of mass destruction programmes. ‘‘It is hard to understand why a number of the measures which are now being taken could not have been initiated earlier,’’ he said in the report. ‘‘If they had been taken earlier, they might have born fruit by now.’’ (Reuters)