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U.S. confident Saddam had mobile weapons labSuspected gold shipment seized
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. experts are confident that suspicious truck trailers found in Iraq are a mobile biological weapons production plant, because they have ruled out all the other logical alternatives, according to a joint report issued by the Pentagon and the CIA. "BW (biological weapons) agent production is the only consistent, logical purpose for these vehicles" says the report. The equipment in the trailers had been thoroughly cleaned to remove any traces of the materials used, according to the report. The report says "coalition experts on fermentation systems and systems engineering examined the trailer found in late April and have been unable to identify any legitimate industrial use -- such as water purification, mobile medical laboratory, vaccine or pharmaceutical production -- that would justify the effort and expense of a mobile production capability". The report also says the evidence runs counter to two other theories: that the trailers could be designed to produce biopesticides or hydrogen for weather balloons. "Preliminary results indicate the presence of sodium azide and urea, which do not support Iraqi claims that the trailer was for hydrogen production," says the report, which was prepared by officials at the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency. The suspect trucks were found in northern Iraq. One was made up of refrigeration units and piping, compatible with weapons production, military sources said last week. There was also believed to be a spraying device. Kirkuk elects new leadersKirkuk's recently-elected interim city council Wednesday selected a mayor/provincial governor, a deputy mayor and three mayoral assistants in a move to establish a democratic government in the oil-rich and ethnically diverse northern Iraqi city. The interim council Wednesday elected Abdul Rahman Mustefa -- a Kurdish lawyer who ran as an independent candidate -- to serve as mayor on a 20-10 vote. Three hundred delegates representing Kirkuk's four main ethnic groups -- Kurds, Arabs, Turkomen and Assyrians -- and several political parties overcame their differences Saturday to choose the 30-member interim council. Maj. Jeff Cantor with the U.S. Army, who oversaw the Kirkuk election, said he was satisfied with the process and called it a learning process in the move towards democracy. "This was a litmus test for the rest of Iraq," Cantor said, saying he believes if this model works in Kirkuk with its four ethnic groups, then it will work everywhere in Iraq. The first meeting of the new Kirkuk government is set for Sunday. Also near Kirkuk, U.S. troops have discovered what appears to be a cache of gold bars hidden in a truck, a Pentagon official said. The find would be worth nearly $250 million dollars if it is gold, according to the military. Within the past two days, soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade discovered 999 gold bars hidden in a truck while making a routine traffic inspection near Kirkuk, Pentagon officials said. (Full story) Last week, U.S. troops inspecting vehicles near the Iraqi border with Syria found a truck with more than 1,100 apparently gold bars, estimated to be worth just more than $250 million. (Full story) Other developments
• Three U.S. soldiers were injured in an attack on a 3rd Infantry Division convoy in the northwestern section of Baghdad, the Pentagon said Wednesday, confirming accounts from the scene. Witnesses said an explosive device was tossed at one of three Humvees in the convoy after 8 p.m. Tuesday, and the Humvee collided with a civilian car. The soldiers were evacuated in another Humvee, witnesses said. Their conditions are not known. • The U.S. Agency for International Development announced Wednesday that it was awarding grants worth $35 million to five humanitarian agencies for community action projects in Iraq. The groups are Mercy Corps; International Relief and Development Inc.; Agricultural Cooperative Development International and Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance; Cooperative Housing Foundation International; and Save the Children Federation Inc. Each is to get $7 million in initial funding, according to a statement from the agency. • British Prime Minister Tony Blair was travelling to Kuwait Wednesday as part of a diplomatic tour that could take him briefly into Iraq, Reuters reported. He reportedly plans to visit the southern city of Basra, where British troops are stationed. (Full story) • Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Tuesday cautioned that it will take time for the coalition to turn up weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and find out why they weren't used during the Iraqi war. Rumsfeld said there were hundreds of possible sites that have not been inspected and he expected coalition forces would learn more as they interrogate captured Iraqi leaders. • Italian opera singer Luciano Pavarotti staged a "Pavarotti and Friends" concert Tuesday to raise funds to help Iraqi refugees return to their country, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said. The money generated by the event is to be used for shelter material, clean water, education help and legal aid, the agency said. The event was held in Modena, Italy, Pavarotti's hometown. Among those performing were Bono, Queen, Eric Clapton, Ricky Martin, Lionel Richie and Andrea Bocelli, according to UNHCR. (Full story) • Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said Tuesday his government was concerned that weapons were being smuggled into the country from Iraq. Earlier this month, before Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was struck by suicide bombs at three residential compounds, Saudi officials in the city found a large cache of weapons that they said was linked to an al Qaeda cell. Saudi officials have not said if they know where the cell obtained those weapons.
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