4.3 |
Iraq WMD assessments, October 2002 to March 2003
facts and
disturbing patterns of behaviour” that demonstrated that Saddam
Hussein and
his regime
had “made no effort to disarm as required by the international
community”
and was
“concealing their efforts to produce more weapons”.
260.
Secretary
Powell provided tapes of intercepted conversations and satellite
imagery
which he
interpreted as demonstrating Iraq’s attempts to conceal activity to
“clean up”
facilities
before visits by the inspectors.
261.
Secretary
Powell also stated that human sources had told the US
that:
•
The Iraqis
were moving “not just documents and hard drives but also
weapons
of mass
destruction to keep them from being found by
inspectors”.
•
“… [W]e
know from sources that [last fall] a missile brigade outside
Baghdad
was
disbursing rocket launchers and warheads containing biological
warfare
agents to
various locations, distributing them to various locations in
western
Iraq. Most
of the launchers … were to be moved every one to four weeks
to
escape detection.”
•
“In early
December, Saddam Hussein had all Iraqi scientists warned of
the
serious
consequences that they and their families would face if they
revealed
any
sensitive information to the inspectors. They were forced to sign
documents
acknowledging
that divulging information is punishable by death.”
•
“Saddam
Hussein also said that scientists should be told not to agree to
leave
Iraq.
Anyone who agreed to be interviewed outside Iraq would be treated
as
a spy.”
•
A “false
death certificate” had been issued for one scientist, and he was
“sent
into
hiding” and a “dozen experts have been placed under house arrest …
at
one of
Saddam Hussein’s ‘guest houses’”.
262.
Secretary
Powell added that the “information and intelligence” pointed to “an
active
and
systematic effort on the part of the Iraqi regime to keep materials
and people from
the
inspectors”.
263.
Secretary
Powell stated that Iraq had failed the test of providing an
honest
declaration
and the conclusion that Iraq was now in further material breach of
its
obligation
was “irrefutable and undeniable”. Iraq had “placed itself in danger
of the
serious
consequences called for in resolution 1441”. The Council placed
itself “in danger
of
irrelevance” if it allowed Iraq to “continue to defy its will
without responding effectively
and
immediately”.
264.
Secretary
Powell set out the “real and present dangers” posed by Iraq’s
weapons
of mass
destruction.
265.
In relation to
Iraq’s biological weapons, Secretary Powell stated that “One of
the
most
worrisome things” was the “existence of mobile production
facilities used to make
biological
agents”. Secretary Powell set out the details provided by “an Iraqi
chemical
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