Severe Omission in Iraqi Arms Declaration

The United States and Britain warned a possibility of war on Iraq pointing out severe omissions in a WMD (weapons of mass destruction) report handed over by Iraq to the UN detailing its nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons programs.

White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said, "President George W. Bush, who presided over a National Security Council meeting, regards the omission in the arms declaration as severe. President Bush made it clear that this is the last opportunity to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein but he failed in the test."

The Washington Post on Dec. 18 reported that the US government official evaluation on the Iraqi report would come out on Dec. 20.

With respect to the Iraqi issue, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell suggested that the US would not take any military action at once saying that the US would seek disarmament of Iraq through the UN instead of taking unilateral action despite Iraq’s omission in its arms declaration.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw judged that the Iraqi report was not enough in that Iraq did not detail its weapons of mass destruction such as nerve gas and chemical weapons though the UN Security Council requested all of it.

He warned, "President Saddam Hussein seems to pretend not to have developed any weapons of mass destruction after US weapons inspectors left Iraq in 1998. If he continues to lie, it is tantamount to denial of the UN resolution."

Ki-Tae Kwon kkt@donga.com