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Iraq: C-I-A Can Come and Show Inspectors Suspect Sites - 2002-12-22


Baghdad is effectively challenging Washington to prove Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.

General Amir al-Saadi says Iraq will allow U-S intelligence agents into the country to show United Nations inspectors where any banned weapons are hidden.

The top advisor to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein also said Baghdad will answer any questions on banned weapons raised by the United States and Britain. He says U-S and British claims that Iraq possesses such weapons are "short-sighted allegations and lies."

U-N inspectors have been in Iraq for nearly a month and they are urging the United States to share its intelligence information. Reports say that process has begun with detailed satellite imagery. As more inspectors arrive in Iraq and secure communications are established, the reports say Washington will provide more information.

On Sunday, U-N arms experts fanned out across the country, visiting an Iraqi space research facility, a missile complex and several chemical processing plants.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Kuwait, the biggest U-S Army military exercise in the Persian Gulf region in more than a decade ended Sunday. The live-fire exercise, involving thousands of soldiers and hundreds of armored vehicles was seen as preparation for possible war with Iraq.

In one maneuver Saturday, an army spokesman said an armored brigade sent its M-1 Abrams tanks against forward positions that resembled Iraqi trenches and minefields.

As the maneuvers got under way Saturday, U-S and British coalition aircraft dropped propaganda leaflets over southern Iraq, telling Iraqis about radio broadcasts that encourage opposition to President Saddam Hussein.

In northern Iraq, U-S intelligence agents are reported to be already working with anti-Saddam forces.

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