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Iraq studying missile-destruction order
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq said Sunday it was "seriously considering" the chief U.N. weapons inspector's demand its Al Samoud 2 missiles be destroyed, and invited U.N. experts to Baghdad to discuss the missile program. "We are serious in investigating this issue. We hope this will be resolved without American or British intervention," Gen. Hossam Amin, the head of Baghdad's National Monitoring Directorate, told reporters. Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix demanded Friday that Iraq dismantle their Al Samoud program, including the infrastructure that supports missile construction, after a panel of experts found that the missile violated limits imposed on Iraq's missile programs in 1991. Amin said Blix's letter "is currently being studied," and no decisions have been made. A panel of experts commissioned by Blix found that the Al Samoud 2 missiles violate limits imposed on Iraq's missile programs in 1991 in two respects: • During test firings, the missiles traveled farther than 93 miles [150 kilometers], the upper limit allowed • The diameter of the missiles' engines was 760 millimeters, exceeding the 600-millimeter limit Iraqi officials have argued that the violations of U.N. restrictions are minor and that the missiles exceeded the 93-mile limit only because they lacked guidance systems during testing. Amin said he expected a team of experts from the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspections Commission to arrive in Baghdad on March 2 to discuss the matter. Iraq also has agreed to allow unmanned surveillance planes from Germany to overfly its territory in support of U.N. weapons inspections, Amin said. The agreement comes two weeks after Amin's agency, which deals with weapons inspectors inside Iraq, held what he called "detailed technical talks" with UNOMOVIC about the flights. American U-2 spy planes began flying surveillance missions over Iraq last week. U.S. President George W. Bush said Saturday that even if Iraq were to meet the deadline for beginning to get rid of the missiles, Iraq would not be in full compliance with U.N. disarmament resolutions because the missiles were "just the tip of the iceberg." "My question is, why don't they destroy every illegal weapon?" Bush said. Bush challenged the United Nations to stand up to Iraq, and said a new American and British-backed resolution would be introduced to the Security Council next week.(U.N. resolution)
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