United Nations Security Council 30 May 2003 Thirteenth quarterly report of the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission in accordance with paragraph 12 of Security Council resolution 1284 (1999)
13. Again, with respect to anthrax, the Commission, as it reported, had strong
indications ? but not conclusive evidence ? that all the quantities produced had
not been destroyed, and that hence even today such quantities could remain.
14. By the time inspections were suspended, the Commission had performed a
number of inspections to try to verify, as described in the present report, intelligence
information that Iraq had mobile units for the production of biological weapons. The
Iraqi side denied that any such units existed and provided the Commission with
pictures of legitimate vehicles, which they suggested could have been mistaken for
mobile units. However, none of the vehicles in those pictures resembles the trucks
recently described and depicted by the Coalition.
118. During an inspection on 7 January 2003 of the Al Mamoun site, UNMOVIC
inspectors observed two large propellant casting chambers. Iraq declared that those
casting chambers had originally been acquired for the Badr 2000 project. That was a
proscribed project, and although UNSCOM had supervised the destruction of the
two casting chambers in 1991 Iraq had managed to refurbish them for use in their
current solid propellant missile projects.
119. The destruction of the chemical weapons agent mustard gas, which had started
at the end of February, was completed in March 2003. Under UNMOVIC
supervision, Iraq destroyed the 155 mm shells and the mustard gas contained in
them. The shells found in 1997 were stored at a declared location ? the former
Muthanna State Establishment. In total, there were 14 shells, containing
approximately 49 litres of the agent ? four of them had been earlier emptied and
sampled by UNSCOM. The agent was destroyed by chemical reaction and the empty
shells with explosives. Samples taken from the shells showed that mustard gas
produced over 15 years ago was still of high quality ? 97 per cent purity.
E. 122 mm chemical warheads
122. An UNMOVIC inspection team found 12 undeclared 122 mm chemical
warheads and motors at the Al Ukhaidar ammunition depot (11 of them were
unfilled and 1 filled with water). Iraq notified the Commission on 20 January 2003
that four more warheads had been found at the Al Taji ammunition depot. In
February 2003, an UNMOVIC team discovered an additional two undeclared 122
mm chemical warheads at the same depot (one of the six warheads discovered at the
Al Taji depot was filled with liquid that was subsequently identified as water). In
total, 18 chemical warheads were tagged by UMOVIC for destruction.
Theres some
undeclared WMD found in Feb. 2003.