The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
310.
The Butler
Review was told that the UK used about 30 separate pieces
of
intelligence
from human sources and satellite imagery covering 19 sites to
provide
leads for
the UN inspectors.123
UNMOVIC
visited seven of those sites, made a
partial examination
of one more and subjected one further site to an inspection
by
ground-penetrating
radar.
311.
Dr Blix
reported to the Security Council on 14 February that
UNMOVIC
had not
found any weapons of mass destruction and the items that were
not
accounted
for might not exist, but Iraq needed to provide the evidence to
answer
the
questions, not belittle them.
312.
The Al
Samoud 2 missile programme and engines converted for use on
the
missile
were proscribed.
313.
The third
Ministerial-level meeting of the Security Council to discuss Iraq
took
314.
Dr Blix told
the Security Council that:
•
UNMOVIC had
begun the process of destroying approximately 50 litres
of
mustard gas
declared by Iraq.
•
More than
200 chemical and more than 100 biological samples had
been
collected.
Three-quarters of the samples had already been tested and
the
results
were consistent with Iraq’s declarations.
315.
Addressing how
much, “if any”, was left of Iraq’s weapons of mass
destruction,
Dr Blix
stated that UNMOVIC had not found any so far, “only a small number
of empty
chemical
munitions, which should have been declared and destroyed”. UNMOVIC
had
destroyed
the “laboratory quantity” of a “mustard gas precursor” that had
been found.
Many
proscribed weapons and items had not been accounted for,
but:
“One must
not jump to the conclusion that they exist. However that
possibility is
also not
excluded. If they exist they must be presented for destruction. If
they do not
exist,
credible evidence to that effect should be presented.”
316.
Addressing
Iraq’s ballistic missile programmes, Dr Blix stated:
•
Experts had
“concluded unanimously” that the two variants of the Al
Samoud 2
missile
declared by Iraq were capable of exceeding the range of 150km
and
were
therefore proscribed.
123
Review of
Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction [“The
Butler Report”], 14 July 2004, HC 898,
paragraph
357.
124
UN Security
Council, ‘4707th Meeting Friday 14 February 2003’
(S/PV.4707).
350