Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has decided to ask Iraq to destroy its Al-Samoud 2 missiles but has not yet determined whether the rocket engines that drive them should be demolished also, diplomats and UN sources said on Wednesday.Whether or not Iraq destroys the missiles will be a key test for the United States of Baghdad’s willingness to give up a defence system just as Washington is building up its military for a possible invasion.US officials have signalled that an Iraqi refusal would violate Security Council orders that it surrender its ballistic missiles and other weapons of mass destruction.Blix is expected to write a letter to Baghdad officials shortly after weapons inspectors complete their inventory of sites assembling missiles, launchers and other components, which they have been scrutinising this week.He first raised alarms about the Al-Samoud 2 missile, which Iraq has openly admitted it developed, in his report to the Security Council on January 27. He said that it appeared to be illegal because it exceeded the 150-km range set down by the United Nations.Blix said the liquid-fuel Al-Samoud 2 had been test-fired to a distance of 183 km and noted that the Al-Samoud’s 760 mm diameter was increased from the earlier version. Iraq, he said, had also imported 380 rocket engines, chemicals used in propellants, test instrumentation and control instruments. How many of these components Blix may ask Iraq to destroy is not yet clear.Blix also has suggested that the missiles violated a 1997 letter from former chief UN inspector Rolf Ekeus, which banned the use of engines from certain surface-to-air missiles in ballistic missiles.Iraq’s UN Ambassador Mohammed Aldouri said on February 12 that the range discrepancy was attributable to the fact that the missiles were not weighted during tests with payload guidance systems and fuel that would have limited their range. On Wednesday, Aldouri told reporters that the missiles were within the range set down by the UN and that Baghdad was asking for new technical talks with the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) that Blix heads.‘‘The Iraqi side asked to have technical talks with UNMOVIC to reach a kind of mutual understanding on this very complicated issue,’’ Aldouri said. (Reuters)
