BAGHDAD,
March 13 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Demonstrating more
cooperation with the U.N. weapons inspector to help head off the looming
U.S.-led war, Iraq announced Thursday, March 13, it will submit a report
to the U.N. on stocks of deadly VX nerve agent it has destroyed as it
continued to scrap more Al-Samoud 2 missiles under U.N. supervision.
The
report on the VX destroyed in 1991 will be delivered Friday, March 14,
to be followed by a second batch of documents on anthrax, according to
Baghdad-based diplomats.
As
part of the U.N. disarmament process, "the Iraqi authorities are
set to hand in the report on VX on Friday and a second report on anthrax
in the next few days," one diplomat told Agence France-Presse (AFP)
on condition of anonymity.
Diplomatic
sources said the report for Friday was about 30 pages long and titled:
"Fate of VX in soil."
However,
U.N. weapons inspectors remain skeptical about the method used by the
Iraqis to quantify the VX and anthrax munitions they have destroyed, the
sources said.
"The
inspectors believe the best method to verify the quantities is through
corroborating documents and interviewing witnesses who were involved in
the destruction process," one diplomat said.
Hiro
Ueki, spokesman for the U.N. disarmament inspectors, said on March 3
that Iraqi authorities had informed the United Nations that the reports
on anthrax and VX would be delivered in about a week.
"They
then told us that they were to submit the reports in a period of one
week," Ueki told AFP on Thursday, without confirming the delivery
date.
"The
reports will be studied by U.N. experts in New York," he added.
Meanwhile,
Iraq continued to comply with the U.N. demand to scrap its Al-Samoud 2
missiles by destroying three more under U.N. supervision Thursday.
"Three
more Al-Samoud 2 missiles were destroyed, as well as seven warheads, and
22 fin-tail sections at the Al-Taji" military facility, north of
the capital, Ueki told AFP.
"Additional
material and components were destroyed at the Al-Waziriyah" plant,
also north of Baghdad, he said.
It
raised to 61 the number of missiles scrapped since the process was
launched on March 1, out of the 100-120 Al-Samoud 2 missiles Iraq said
it has produced.
Thirty-five
combat warheads, two launchers, five engines, 22 fin-tail sections and
other components, including the rockets' guidance and control systems,
have now also been scrapped since.
Ueki
said Tuesday, March 11, Iraq had stopped production of Al-Samoud 2
missiles, which U.N. experts said had to be scrapped because they
exceeded the range limit of 150 kilometers (93 miles) allowed by U.N.
resolutions.
U.N.
Withdraws Border Monitors
