Iraq faces deadline to destroy missiles

United Nations - Iraq faced a new test of its willingness to disarm after U.N. inspectors ordered Baghdad to begin destroying dozens of illegal missiles and their components by March 1.

Saddam Hussein's response could either hurt or help the United States as it struggles to win international support for a new U.N. resolution backing war with Iraq.

The Bush administration, searching for more evidence of Iraq's refusal to peacefully disarm, had pushed for the destruction of the missiles. U.S. officials said they were reviewing the four-page order that chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix sent to the Iraqis late Friday.

In the letter, Blix ordered Baghdad to destroy, under U.N. supervision, all of its Al Samoud 2 missiles and warheads, the missile engines for them, and a host of other components, some of which Baghdad illegally imported.

He also ordered Iraq to destroy the launchers, testing equipment, software and documentation associated with the Al Samoud program, but not the factories where the missiles were built, as the United States wanted.

"The appropriate arrangements should be made so that the destruction process can commence by March 1, 2003," Blix wrote to Iraqi General Amer al-Saadi, an adviser to Saddam. March 1 is the date Blix's next report on Iraqi compliance is due to the Security Council.

The deadline will be key for the Security Council which is bitterly divided over whether war is necessary in Iraq. Any indication of compliance by the Iraqis will likely bolster the position of France and others who claim inspections are working.

The United States and Britain have already said time has run out for Saddam and are preparing to present a new draft resolution next week that would given them U.N. backing for war in Iraq. Secretary of State Colin Powell sought support for the resolution from foreign ministers of four Security Council nations Friday.

Washington's goal is to achieve the minimum nine votes necessary to pass a council resolution, while avoiding a veto by France, Russia or China.

Blix's order to destroy the missiles, because they are capable of flying further than the Security Council permits, confronts the Iraqi government with a serious dilemma: whether to give up a valuable weapons system its military would almost certainly use against a U.S.-led coalition, or refuse to comply and face accusations that it is not cooperating with U.N. inspectors.

Blix was very specific in his letter, telling the Iraqis the destruction would be carried out through a variety of methods chosen by inspectors, including "explosive demolition, crushing, melting, and other physical and chemical methods."

Mohammed Modhaffar al-Adhami, a member of Iraq's parliament, said he believed Iraq would destroy the missiles if so ordered.

"Iraq will do the maximum in its cooperation to avoid any aggression ... even (destroying) the missiles," al-Adhami told The Associated Press.

Blix's letter came a week after a panel of international experts determined that the Al Samoud 2 missiles exceeded the 150-kilometer (93-mile) limit set by U.N. resolutions at the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Iraq declared the Al Samoud and other new missile systems to U.N. inspectors in October, and again in its 12,000-page weapons declaration in December and noted that in 13 of 40 tests, the missiles flew slightly beyond the limit. But Iraq said the additional distance was a result of tests conducted on missiles that weren't outfitted with warheads or guidance systems, which would have slowed them down.

Some former inspectors however suggested that Iraq purposely chose technology that would support missile systems with longer ranges.

"The Iraqis understood that if the payload were lighter it would go further," said David Kay, a former nuclear weapons inspector. "They played the game from very early on."

According to diplomats, Iraq declared 76 Al Samouds in June 2002 and said some had been used for tests and component parts. But the diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Iraq has continued to produce the missiles, and U.N. inspectors now estimate they have between 100 and 120 missiles.

The panel of international missile experts also concluded last week that casting chambers previously destroyed by inspectors and rebuilt by Iraq could be used to produce motors for missiles capable of ranges "significantly greater" than 93 miles.

The experts said they needed more data on another missile system, the Al Fatah, which Iraq also reported had gone beyond the limit in some tests. In his letter, Blix told the Iraqis he would be seeking the additional data on the Al Fatah.

Adding additional pressure on Saddam, Blix was also preparing a list of more than 35 outstanding issues surrounding Iraq's disarmament that he will present to his advisory board of commissioners when they meet on Monday at U.N. headquarters.

The list won't be included in his March 1 report but he will likely be asked about it when he addresses the council, probably a week later on March 7. U.S. officials have said they would be paying close attention to the list, which could serve as an additional barometer of Iraq's cooperation and intentions to disarm. -- Associated Press

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