Khanjar
06-02-03, 10:08 AM
Powell says ‘day of reckoning’ is closer
NEW YORK — US Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday gave dramatic new evidence of what he called Iraqi efforts to hide its weapons of mass destruction as he pressed the US case for tough action against Saddam Hussein.
Putting satellite photos and tape recordings before a landmark meeting of the UN Security Council, Powell said by rejecting “its one last opportunity to come clean and disarm, Iraq has put itself in deeper material breach and closer to the day when it will face serious consequences”.
Powell did not explicitly mention military action, but said: “We must not shrink from whatever is ahead of us. We must not fail in our duty and our responsibilities.”
“Saddam Hussein and his regime will stop at nothing until something stops him.”
Russia and China said UN weapons inspections must be finished in Iraq, but France, another leading opponent of force, said war would be an option if the inspections fail.
Iraq rejected the allegations that it had lied to the UN arms inspectors and had links to international terrorism. “Iraq will provide detailed and technical responses to the allegations,” its ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammed Al Douri, said when given the right of reply at the end of a three-and-a-half-hour council meeting.
But, in an immediate reaction, Al Douri said Powell’s 83-minute audio-visual presentation to the council comprised “mere sound recordings that cannot be ascertained as genuine” and “incorrect allegations” made by “unknown sources.”
Quoting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Al Douri specifically denied the charge that his government had ties to Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network.
“If we had a relationship with Al Qaeda and we believed in that relationship, we would not be ashamed to admit it,” he said.
“We have no relationship with Al Qaeda.”
“The clear goal behind holding this meeting ... is to sell the idea of war and aggression against my country, Iraq, without any legal, moral or political justification,” he said.
At the crucial meeting, the US secretary of state showed satellite images of suspected arms plants in Iraq and played recordings of officials, using information from “people who have risked their lives to let the world know what Saddam Hussein is really up to.”
“Saddam Hussein’s inhumanity knows no limits,” Powell told foreign ministers and ambassadors from the 15 Security Council member nations and Iraq’s UN ambassador. Powell outlined US details on Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons arsenal and how it has been hidden from UN weapons inspectors, who have been there since November.
Powell said there was a “decade of proof” that Iraq was trying to develop nuclear weapons, saying “Saddam Hussein is determined to get his hands on a nuclear bomb.”
“Iraq’s behaviour demonstrates that Saddam Hussein and his regime have made no effort — no effort — to disarm as required by the international community,” Powell told the council. “Indeed, the facts and Iraq’s behaviour show that Saddam Hussein and his regime are concealing their efforts to produce more weapons of mass destruction.”
Powell said Iraqi officials hid correspondence on military industrialisation, ordered the removal of banned weapons from key sites and hid prohibited items in their homes.
He charged that “Iraq’s record on chemical weapons is replete with lies.”
“Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tonnes of chemical weapons agent. That is enough agent to fill 16,000 battlefield rockets,” said Powell, who was flanked by George Tenet, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency.
“Saddam Hussein has investigated dozens of biological agents causing diseases such as gas gangrene, plague, typhus, tetanus, cholera, camelpox and hemorrhagic fever, and he also has the wherewithal to develop smallpox.”
Iraq had declared 8,500 litres of anthrax, but Powell said UN experts estimated that Iraq could have produced 25,000 litres.
He played two audiotapes of intercepted conversations between Iraqi officials that he said proved Baghdad’s intent to deceive the inspectors.
The tapes, he said, were “part and parcel of a policy of evasion and deception decided at the highest levels of the regime.”
He said Saddam had a “higher committee for monitoring the inspections teams”.
Powell also reaffirmed US accusations of Iraqi involvement in terrorism. He said there was a “sinister nexus” between Iraq and the Al Qaeda group, adding that Al Qaeda had used Iraq’s embassy in Pakistan as a “liaison office.”
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Powell’s information had to be handed over to UN agencies and “the activities of the international inspectors in Iraq must be continued.”
China’s foreign minister, Tang Jiaxuan, also called for the US intelligence to be used by the inspectors to make their work more effective.
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said inspections must continue, but added: “If this path fails and leads us into an impasse, we rule out no option, including, as a last resort, the use of force, as we have said all along.” — AFP
NEW YORK — US Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday gave dramatic new evidence of what he called Iraqi efforts to hide its weapons of mass destruction as he pressed the US case for tough action against Saddam Hussein.
Putting satellite photos and tape recordings before a landmark meeting of the UN Security Council, Powell said by rejecting “its one last opportunity to come clean and disarm, Iraq has put itself in deeper material breach and closer to the day when it will face serious consequences”.
Powell did not explicitly mention military action, but said: “We must not shrink from whatever is ahead of us. We must not fail in our duty and our responsibilities.”
“Saddam Hussein and his regime will stop at nothing until something stops him.”
Russia and China said UN weapons inspections must be finished in Iraq, but France, another leading opponent of force, said war would be an option if the inspections fail.
Iraq rejected the allegations that it had lied to the UN arms inspectors and had links to international terrorism. “Iraq will provide detailed and technical responses to the allegations,” its ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammed Al Douri, said when given the right of reply at the end of a three-and-a-half-hour council meeting.
But, in an immediate reaction, Al Douri said Powell’s 83-minute audio-visual presentation to the council comprised “mere sound recordings that cannot be ascertained as genuine” and “incorrect allegations” made by “unknown sources.”
Quoting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Al Douri specifically denied the charge that his government had ties to Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network.
“If we had a relationship with Al Qaeda and we believed in that relationship, we would not be ashamed to admit it,” he said.
“We have no relationship with Al Qaeda.”
“The clear goal behind holding this meeting ... is to sell the idea of war and aggression against my country, Iraq, without any legal, moral or political justification,” he said.
At the crucial meeting, the US secretary of state showed satellite images of suspected arms plants in Iraq and played recordings of officials, using information from “people who have risked their lives to let the world know what Saddam Hussein is really up to.”
“Saddam Hussein’s inhumanity knows no limits,” Powell told foreign ministers and ambassadors from the 15 Security Council member nations and Iraq’s UN ambassador. Powell outlined US details on Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons arsenal and how it has been hidden from UN weapons inspectors, who have been there since November.
Powell said there was a “decade of proof” that Iraq was trying to develop nuclear weapons, saying “Saddam Hussein is determined to get his hands on a nuclear bomb.”
“Iraq’s behaviour demonstrates that Saddam Hussein and his regime have made no effort — no effort — to disarm as required by the international community,” Powell told the council. “Indeed, the facts and Iraq’s behaviour show that Saddam Hussein and his regime are concealing their efforts to produce more weapons of mass destruction.”
Powell said Iraqi officials hid correspondence on military industrialisation, ordered the removal of banned weapons from key sites and hid prohibited items in their homes.
He charged that “Iraq’s record on chemical weapons is replete with lies.”
“Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tonnes of chemical weapons agent. That is enough agent to fill 16,000 battlefield rockets,” said Powell, who was flanked by George Tenet, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency.
“Saddam Hussein has investigated dozens of biological agents causing diseases such as gas gangrene, plague, typhus, tetanus, cholera, camelpox and hemorrhagic fever, and he also has the wherewithal to develop smallpox.”
Iraq had declared 8,500 litres of anthrax, but Powell said UN experts estimated that Iraq could have produced 25,000 litres.
He played two audiotapes of intercepted conversations between Iraqi officials that he said proved Baghdad’s intent to deceive the inspectors.
The tapes, he said, were “part and parcel of a policy of evasion and deception decided at the highest levels of the regime.”
He said Saddam had a “higher committee for monitoring the inspections teams”.
Powell also reaffirmed US accusations of Iraqi involvement in terrorism. He said there was a “sinister nexus” between Iraq and the Al Qaeda group, adding that Al Qaeda had used Iraq’s embassy in Pakistan as a “liaison office.”
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Powell’s information had to be handed over to UN agencies and “the activities of the international inspectors in Iraq must be continued.”
China’s foreign minister, Tang Jiaxuan, also called for the US intelligence to be used by the inspectors to make their work more effective.
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said inspections must continue, but added: “If this path fails and leads us into an impasse, we rule out no option, including, as a last resort, the use of force, as we have said all along.” — AFP