Scientist: Iraq urged private U.N. interview
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Amer al-Saadi is the first Iraqi scientist to be interviewed by U.N. weapons inspectors without Iraqi officials present.
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BAGHDAD (CNN) -- The first Iraqi scientist to be interviewed in private by U.N. weapons inspectors said Friday that a top Iraqi official had persuaded him to do the interview.
Iraqi science adviser Amer al-Saadi said Gen. Hussam Amin, head of Iraq's National Monitoring Directorate, talked him into granting the interview Thursday.
Al-Saadi also said he wanted to help relieve U.S. pressure on Iraq by speaking with the U.N. officials searching for evidence of Iraqi chemical, nuclear and biological weapons.
U.N. officials have complained that Iraq was not fully cooperating with the United Nations. One complaint was that inspectors had not been allowed to interview scientists without Iraqi officials present.
U.S. officials said Baghdad went to great lengths to prevent scientists from sharing information about weapons programs.
Iraq denied that allegation, insisting that scientists were free to speak with inspectors in private but that no scientists had been willing to do so. Iraqi officials said scientists had insisted on having government officials present at interviews.
U.N. officials said the private meeting with al-Saadi lasted three-and-a-half hours, during which "a number of issues were addressed." No details of the interview were released.
Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the U.N. nuclear agency, called the interview "a step in the right direction" in obtaining more cooperation from Baghdad.
"I hope we will be able to have many private interviews," he said Friday.
