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Inspectors visit Iraqi site listed by Powell
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.N. weapons inspectors visited Iraq's Ibn Haytham missile research center Thursday, a day after U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell cited the facility as an example of Iraq's noncooperation. In his address Wednesday to the U.N. Security Council, Powell said a truck caravan appeared at the biological weapons-related site November 25, two days before inspections resumed in Iraq. Powell indicated that Iraqis used the trucks to move equipment from Ibn Haytham and two other facilities. "Days after this activity, the vehicles and the equipment that I've just highlighted disappear, and the site returns to patterns of normalcy," Powell said. "We don't know precisely what Iraq was moving, but the inspectors already knew about these sites, so Iraq knew that they would be coming. "We must ask ourselves: Why would Iraq suddenly move equipment of this nature before inspections if they were anxious to demonstrate what they had or did not have?" Powell on Thursday was testifying on Iraq before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Iraq has denied U.S. accusations that it is hiding evidence of banned weapons, calling Powell's presentation to the Security Council "simply untrue." President Bush has threatened military action against Iraq if it refuses to abide by U.N. resolutions. Gen. Amer al-Saadi, science adviser to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, called Powell's presentation "a typical American show, complete with stunts and special effects." In addition to Ibn Haytham, the Iraqi Information Ministry said inspectors went to other sites Thursday. Chemical inspectors visited the General Establishment for Water and Sewage Treatment in Baghdad. Biological inspectors went to Al Abraj Alcohol Co. in Khalis, Diyala province, 31 miles (50 kilometers) north of Baghdad. A December 2 Iraqi Foreign Ministry statement said the U.N. Special Commission visited the company on many occasions in the 1990s. Biological inspectors also visited medical laboratories in Baghdad. A nuclear team went to Shalchiya warehouses in Baghdad, and a joint team arrived at an ammunitions storage warehouse. That location is unknown. In London, England, top U.N. weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei discussed the Iraqi situation with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Foreign Minister Jack Straw. (Full story) "Iraq is not cooperating fully," ElBaradei said after the meeting. "They need to show drastic change in terms of cooperation."
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