IRAQ: Experts say Samoud missile exceeds UN allowed range

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Att.Editors: The following item is from the Qatar News Agency (QNA)

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 13 2003 (IPS) - In a finding that could bolster the US case for a war on Iraq, an international team of experts summoned by United Nations weapons inspectors has concluded that Iraq’s al-Samoud 2 missiles exceeded the range of 150 kilometers imposed by the world body.

The finding gives new ammunition to the US to buttress its case that the Security Council find Baghdad in material breach of its new resolution adopted on November 8. But Iraq and Russia have contested the findings, arguing that they are not final.

"It is up to chief weapons inspector Hans Blix to recommend the action that needs to be taken in view of the experts’ findings," US ambassador to the UN John Negroponte said.

The inspectors had called a meeting of experts to examine evidence regarding Samoud 2 and Fatah that they had in some tests exceeded the limit imposed by the Security Council.

After two days of deliberations, the experts said questions still remained to be answered about Fatah and asked the inspectors to take up technical issues with the Iraqis.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov said experts confirmed that the range of Samoud was more than 150 km but that was not final.

"So far UNMOVIC has not reached any conclusion," he said after a four-hour meeting of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission.

"Inspections should continue," Fedotov said, adding, – there are many details, about the payload and the fuel, and they need to continue their analysis."

A Russian expert was invited to the experts’ meeting but UN officials say he did not attend the deliberations.

Negroponte said the experts concluded that Samoud definitely violated the range limit.

ôMy understanding is that one of the two missiles that is being analyzed definitely has a capacity that exceeds the range of 150 km… That is something that our own intelligence sources have been telling us for months. But apparently now it’s a matter of agreement among the experts," he said.

Other diplomats said they have called for destroying the engines for the liquid-fuelled Samoud which Iraq had imported.

Blix declined to comment, reserving his observation for his report Friday to the Security Council on Iraq’s compliance with its resolution.