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Baghdad stresses warheads are empty'They are not weapons of mass destruction'
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq late Thursday said the empty chemical warheads discovered by U.N. inspectors did not constitute weapons of mass destruction, but instead were merely items that had been "forgotten" over the years. "It is neither chemical, neither biological," said Hossam Amin, head of Iraq's National Monitoring Directorate. "It is empty warheads. It is small artillery rockets. It is expired rockets. They were forgotten without any intention to use them, because they were expired since 10 years ago." Asked how Iraq could have forgotten about the rockets at this critical juncture, he said, "Nobody opened this box." "They were forgotten in such a huge storehouse. This is not the first time the inspection team find such findings," he said, pointing out that inspectors in 1997 made a similar discovery at a site that had produced "chemical agents in the past proscribed program." Thursday, inspectors with the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, or UNMOVIC, found "11 empty 122mm chemical warheads and one warhead that requires further evaluation," an UNMOVIC statement said. "The warheads were in excellent condition and were similar to ones imported by Iraq during the late 1980s," the statement said. Amin said Iraq declared "this type of rockets" to U.N. inspectors in 1996 and "again in the new declaration." The rockets were found at the Ukhaider ammunition storage area, about 250 kms southeast of Baghdad. The storage facility, Amin said, consists of 100 bunkers and contains "different types of munitions and military equipment." He said inspectors came across sealed boxes and asked to open them. "When they opened them, it appeared they are artillery rockets, caliber 122 millimeter. They are not weapons of mass destruction," Amin told reporters. The rockets, he said, were imported in 1986 and have since "expired." Amin predicted the U.S. administration will "want to make this finding a huge finding," but he emphasized the rockets are empty.
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