.Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Baszn Özeti
Iraq gave no indication that it John Negroponte. Powell raised the curplanned
to change its attitude, which tàin on his presentation by offering
thus far has been to challenge White w~t, he described as an intercepted
Ho~se criticisms and offer its own pug- tell'!phone conversation between a colnaclous
responses. Baghdad's ambassa- O1~eland a ~rigadier general in Iraq's.
dor to the United Nations. Mohammed elIte RepublIéan Guard last NO'9'ember
Aldouri, attended the Security Council that proved Iraq was playing cat and
meeting and flatly contradicted even mouse withweapons inspectors .
. the wea)cest weapons charges leveled a In the conversation, the two officers
by Powell and UN inspectors. . banter about the pending arrival of Ma-
. Aldouri accused Powell of £abricat- ha~,ed ElBaradei. the UN's chief nucleing
the audiotapes presented here and ar weapons inspector. "What do we say
said "We have no relationship with Al if one of them sees it?" one of the of-
Qaeda." He criticized Powell's presen- . ficers asks. referring to a "modified vetàtion
as nothing more than an effortto hicle" from the Al-Kindi company.' an
;."sell the idea of war" without "l~l. Iraqi concern suspected of producing
moral. or political justification." prohibited weapons. "We evacuated ev-
. In Baghdad. an adviser to Saddam. erything." the other officer replies. "We
Lieutenant General Amir al Saadi, dis- don't have anything left."
paraged Powell's presentation. "From Another phone conversation, interwhat
we have heard. any third-rate in- ?!pted in Ja~uary. just four days after
. telligence outfit could produce such re- InspeCtOrs discovered 12empty chemic-
. al warheads. has an Iraqi officer from
cordlngs." he told reporters. "It is Republican Guard headquarters refersimply
not true. and not genuine. The ring. to "forbidden ammo" and telling a
reason is simple - because we have
nothing to hide."
field ",fficer about a visit by inspectors:
"This is simply manufactured evi- "We sent you a message yesterday to
dence," he added. clean out. all of the areas. the SC1';lp
Amid speculation that the Bush ad- areas. tba.abandoned areas." the officer
ministration is prepared to launch a war' at headquarters says. ,"Make sure there
against Iraq by themiddle of next month, is nothing there." The senior officer
.China, France and Russia reasserted then orders his underling to "destroy
their desire Wednesday to see weapons the message, because I don't want anyinspections
continue and advocated ef- one to see this message."
forts to resolve the conflict peacefully. Powell accused Saddam himself of
Britain, which has allied itself with orchestrating the deception program
the U.S.in the debate and has sent troops. through a high-level committee specifito
the Gulf, offered strong criticismof cally established to spy on UN inspec-
Iraq here Wednesday and supported tors and prevent them from doing their
Powell's contention that Iraq is not com- jobs. Powell said the committee, heade~
plying with weapons inspectors. . by Iraq's vice president. 1àha Yasin'
Gerinany's foreign minister. JoschkaRamadan, includes one of Saddam's
Fischer. who has not supported military.' sons as well as Lieutenant Amir al Saadi.
action against Iraq, said on Ge~n, the primary point of contact for UN intelevision
Wednesday that he belieVed' spectors and the Iraqi government.
Iraq could be brought into compliance Playing on continued concerns about
if weapons inspectors are given more. the exact reach and movements of Al
time to carry out their duties. Qaeda operatives. Powell said that
On Tuesday. Hans Blix, the chief UN. Baghdad's illicit weapons programs can
inspector for biological ana chemical be connected to terrorism and to terrorweapons.
said that the war clock with . ist organizations. "Iraq and terrorism
Iraq~.stands at "five minutes to mid- goes back decades." he said
night:' The~nexus ..with Al Qaeda. Powell
In presenting his speech, which was said. originates.with a branch headed by
transmitted globally on live television,; Abu Massab al Zaqawi, a senior associ-
Powellwas accompanied by the direc- • ate of bin Laden. He said Zaqàwi has a
tor of Central Intelligence, George Ten- camp in the northeastern corner of
et. and the U.S. ambassador to the UN. Kurdish Iraq teaching terrorist operat-.
ivès how tà produce ricin and other ex-
.tremely lethal chemicals. He said
~qawi has received medical treatment
In Baghdad and that there are also other'
Za,awi bri~des op~ting in Baghdad.
Fro!D hIS ~rro~t network in Iraq, .
ZaqaWl can direct hIS terrorist network
in.the Middle East and beyond." Powell
~Id He also accused Zaqawi of provid- .
Ing money and weapons used in the
ki!ling of Lawrence Foley. an employee
WIththe Agency for International Development,
in Amman, Jordan last October.
He noted that "Al Q.aeda continues to
have deep interest in acquiring weapOns
of mass destruction" and that Qaeda operatives
trained with chemical weapons
in Iraq between 1997and 2000.
Po,,:~ll presented. satellite photos of
. the.':fap~apons facIlity. one of 65 such
facIllt.les In Iraq that he said houses
chemIcal weapons. He said Taji is home
to 15 active chemical munitions
bunkers. and that soldiers relocated
munitio~s ju~t b~for~ weapons inspectors
amved. indicating that the Iraqis
had advance knowledge of the inspectors'
schedule. He added that the White
Hous~ ~ observ~~ "this type ofhousecleanmg
at 30 mIlItary sites.
He also said the Iraqis' have limited
acces~ to their scientists. going so far as
. ~arnIng "the~ that providing informa-
'.tU:lnwas pUnIshable by death" and creat~ng
~ fal~e death certificate for one
sCientist who was then sent into hiding.
. Powell brandished a small tube, not-
Ing ~t less than a teaspoon of anthrax
had killed two postal workers in 200L He
said Iraq declared it had 8.500 liters of
anthrax in 1995,while weapons inspectors
estimated that Iraq had 35.000 liters
and that Iraq had not accounted for "even
one teaspoonful" of anthrax since then.
He said that Iraq has a total stockpile of
100to 500 tons of chemical agents.
He said Iraqi informants said Baghd~d
~ 18trucks that it uses as mobile
biologIcal weapons labs and played a
!aped ~ommuniq,:,-éof a few weeks ago
m whIch an IraqI officer identified as
Captain Ibrahim told a colonel to remove
the expression "nerve agents"
where.ver "it comes up" in wireless instr~cti.o~
sha~ed by the military.
. This ~s ~Vldence, not conjecture,"
Powell said. Why should any of us give
Iraq the benefit of the doubt? I don't."
u.s. and Europe discuss
·plans for postwar Iraq ..
Reconstruction costs put on fast track..
By Thomas Fuller
International Herald 1\ibune
BRUSSELS: Although many Euro-:,
pean leaders continue to insist that war
with Iraq is not inevitable, a senior U.S.
.diplomat said Thursday that negotiations
with European countries about
paying for recOnstruction in a pOst-Sad~
dam Iraq were proceeding at a quick
; pace.
. "There are very. very active discus-
SIOns between the United States and
Europe. about a post-Saddam action
plan," Rockwell Schnabel. the U.S. am- :
bas~ador ~oth: European Union; said in
all InterVIeW,. That, of cour,;e .involves
all so~s of things. including financial
commItments."
. European officials have attempted to
play down the idea of planning for a
pos~ar Iraq because they, say they
want to avoid the impression that waris
a foregone conclusion.
. Officials are discussing such things
as who will supply medical supplies
and food to Iraq and the logistics of ins~lling
new pOWer grids. Schnabel'
saldL
'
. In contrast with the Gulf War a degade
ago. the negotiations over who
'pay~ for what bave been much lower
p~.file, diplomats and analysts say.
~artly because of the political sensitiVItIes
In Europe where a majority of
people s~y they oppose the war.
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