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Analysis: U.N. Weapons Inspectors in Iraq Find 11 Empty Warheads Designed to Carry Chemical Weapons; Inspectors Also Visit Homes of Two Iraqi Nuclear Scientists in Baghdad
All Things Considered: January 16, 2003
Iraq Inspections
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.
MICHELE NORRIS, host:
And I'm Michele Norris.
After weeks of searching and coming up essentially empty-handed, UN weapons inspectors in Iraq today scored a hit: 11 empty warheads designed to carry chemical weapons. They were discovered at an ammunitions storage depot in southern Iraq. Also today, a group of inspectors for the first time visited the homes of two Iraqi nuclear scientists in Baghdad and removed documents from one of the homes.
NPR's Kate Seelye is in the Iraqi capital and joins us now. Hello, Kate.
KATE SEELYE reporting:
Hello, Michele.
NORRIS: First, Kate, what do we know about the warheads that were found today?
SEELYE: Well, it seems inspectors used portable X-ray equipment to conduct analysis of the warheads, which were found in some bunkers south of Baghdad. They were described as being in excellent condition and similar to ones imported by Iraq in the 1980s. Now I should add that it was not clear if these warheads had ever contained banned chemicals. Now the UN has said nothing about the significance of the find, but the Iraqis late tonight dismissed it. The head of the monitoring directorate said they were expired rockets with no links to weapons of mass destruction. He added that they had been enclosed, you know, in wooden boxes that had been forgotten about and he basically called the controversy, quote, "a storm in a teacup."
NORRIS: Might this prove to be the smoking gun that they've been looking for?
SEELYE: The UN has said that it's not happy with Iraq's weapons declaration. It believes it has not accounted for all of its weapons programs. Now whether or not these chemical warheads are among the weapons that the UN is concerned about remains to be seen.
NORRIS: Inspectors there today were quite busy. They also visited the homes of two scientists.
SEELYE: Yes. They searched the home of a nuclear scientist, who later complained to journalists that inspectors had essentially turned his house upside down. They also checked the home of a physicist, Hassan Faleh, and apparently asked to see some of his documents. Now according to reporters who I guess could see into Faleh's home, an animated debate ensued between inspectors and Iraqi liaison officials, presumably over the documents. And then many hours later Faleh, some Iraqi officials and a top UN inspector drove to an agricultural area just outside of Baghdad. There the inspectors walked to a field that contained what appeared to be a man-made mound. They briefly inspected it and then returned to Baghdad, where they dropped off the documents at a hotel where some inspectors are staying.
And, you know, I have to note here we don't have more details. We don't know the significance of this, of what the documents contained. But it certainly appears that inspections are intensifying these days.
NORRIS: The inspectors wanted to conduct private interviews with these senior scientists. It looks like they weren't actually able to do that.
SEELYE: No. I mean, the government is not in favor of private interviews, nor is it in favor of interviews with scientists abroad. They've made it very clear. But they said it was entirely up to the scientists to decide whether or not to do so. Once again, they noted that these men were professionals who could make up their own minds. What was interesting was that one of these officials also noted that two other scientists today separate from the ones seen earlier were contacted by the monitors through the Iraqi monitoring directorate here. Private interviews were requested with them, and both men turned them down.
NORRIS: Thanks, Kate.
SEELYE: Thank you.
NORRIS: NPR's Kate Seelye in Baghdad.
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