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Top UN Inspectors Says Iraq Has - 2003-02-09


The top United Nations officials on Iraqi disarmament say Baghdad appears to be having a "change of heart" on ridding itself of weapons of mass destruction making a new beginning toward weapon's inspections.

Mohamed ElBaradei and Hans Blix says their two days of talks in Baghdad, had provided a new beginning, but not yet a breakthrough, on Iraqi compliance.

Mr. ElBaradei, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the talks led to progress on three issues, including full inspection, full Iraqi cooperation and movement on remaining disarmament issues.

Mr. Blix, the Chief U-N weapons inspector, said Iraq turned over documents on anthrax, V-X nerve agents, and its missile development program. He said experts need several days to analyze the importance of these documents.

Mr. Blix also said Iraq agreed to form a commission to hunt for missing documents and said Baghdad promised to respond by Friday to a key U-N demand for U-2 spy planes to fly over Iraq to look for weapons.

Mr. Blix said more Iraqi cooperation is needed on the issue of private interviews with Iraqi scientists, but he said he would rather see more inspections than some other solution -- a likely reference to possible U-S led military action.

A top advisor to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Amir al-Sadi, said Baghdad hopes the U-N inspectors' report to the Security Council this Friday will be fair and factual, even if it is critical of Iraq.

President Bush warned last week that he believes Iraq is likely to offer what he called "empty concessions" in an effort to delay the process.

Mr. al-Sadi said Iraq is looking at options concerning surveillance flights that include French, Russian, and German planes in addition to the American U-2's.

He also said Baghdad can only encourage but not force Iraqi scientists to hold private interviews with weapons inspectors.

The United States says it believes Iraq has threatened scientists and their families with death if they talk to inspectors without Iraqi officials present.

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