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S P E C I A L: The Standoff with Iraq Did Iraq test biological weapons on humans?
Weapons inspectors return to their headquarters in Baghdad Suspicions raised as Iraq again prevents inspection
January 14, 1998
Web posted at: 2:19 p.m. EST (1919 GMT)BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq said in a letter to the United Nations on Tuesday that U.N. arms inspectors had been checking on whether Iraq has been eavesdropping on their operations and have been looking into accusations that prisoners have been used to test chemical and biological weapons.
In New York, Chief U.N. weapons inspector Richard Butler -- who is to hold talks in Baghdad on Monday -- confirmed to CNN that inspectors were "looking for a document trail" that might show whether Iraq was testing biological weapons on humans.
Chief U.N. weapons inspector Richard Butler's interview on CNN.
3 min. 22 sec. VXtreme video
Butler also said he was surprised that Iraq made this aspect of the investigation public.
Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz on Wednesday denied that his country has used humans as subjects for testing biological weapons.
"This is one of the lies being used as a pretext for intruding into the headquarters and branches of the Iraqi security agencies," Aziz said at a news conference
On Monday, a team of inspectors led by a German biological weapons expert went to Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad to search for documents from 1994 and 1995 which might document testing on prisoners. Butler says the records were not there.
A L S O :
Why so many U.S. and British inspectors?
Iraq denies using humans in biological weapons tests
UN Inspectors blocked again
The American head of a U.N. weapons inspection team in Iraq was blocked by Iraqi authorities from carrying out his mission for a second straight day on Wednesday.Scott Ritter -- who has been accused by Iraq of spying for the CIA -- said he and his team waited for an Iraqi inspection escort for 15 minutes but then decided to call it quits.
"It's now 9:19 a.m. and no personnel from the National Monitoring Directorate have shown up. Therefore, once again, I am compelled to postpone the inspection and report back to the executive chairman in New York where the matter now rests," said Ritter.
Without escorts, U.N. teams are not allowed past security guards at the sites.
There has been a sharp decline in the value of the dinar The U.N. Security Council has been considering Iraq's renewed refusal to allow unhindered U.N. inspections, and the world body was hoping to approve a new resolution regarding the Iraqi behavior later on Wednesday.
Two inspection teams were given the necessary Iraqi escorts and carried out their monitoring missions Wednesday but Ritter's team was again targeted by the Iraqi authorities.
Baghdad says the team is dominated by experts from the United States and Britain, the two nations which Iraq accuses of deliberately slowing down the inspection process in order to maintain international Gulf War sanctions against Iraq.
Baghdad says the sanctions are unjustified since Iraq has met all disarmament demands. But the United Nations has repeatedly said that the sanctions will not be lifted until Iraq has fully cooperated with all inspection teams and proved it has complied with a ban on weapons of mass destruction.
Newspapers in Baghdad are criticizing Ritter Iraqi media lash out
Iraqi newspapers on Wednesday again lambasted Ritter, who has firmly rejected the spying allegations and who enjoys full support from the United Nations.
One newspaper described Ritter as a "time bomb" and an agent for the CIA. Another daily dubbed Ritter Abu Azamat, the father of crises. And there were media reports which accused U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan of bowing to American dictates.
While the anti-American and anti-U.N. rhetoric is heating up again in Baghdad, Iraqis feel the pinch of what appears to be yet another crisis mode: food prices are up and the Iraqi dinar is down against the U.S. dollar.
Correspondent Ben Wedeman, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Iraq Standoff Main | Latest Stories | Message Board
Related stories:
- Iraq stymies U.S.-led inspection team again - January 14, 1998
- Security Council prepares statement backing inspectors - January 13, 1998
- 14 U.S. warships in Persian Gulf region - January 13, 1998
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