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Fact sheet: Iraq declaration to U.N. denies nuke program, source says
Iraq's declaration to the United Nations says it has no nuclear weapons program, a source close to U.N. weapons inspectors said on December 12. About 300 of more than 2,300 pages of the 11,000-page declaration minutely detail activity at suspected Iraqi nuclear sites from 1991 to 2002, according to the high-ranking U.N. official. In some cases, Iraq's declaration claims, the sites were used for scientific research and university teaching programs. The U.N. source said translators and experts are still going through the body of the text. The declaration, delivered to inspectors on December 7, was mandated by U.N. resolution 1441, unanimously passed November 8 by the Security Council. (Resolution text) The Iraqi dossier includes more than 11,800 pages and 12 CD-ROMs containing 529 megabytes of information. Copies of the declaration were taken to New York and Vienna, Austria, so experts could examine its contents. Iraqi officials said the report is "currently accurate, full and complete." U.N. officials said it could take days to analyze the declaration because of its complexity and length and the need to translate parts of it from Arabic. U.N. inspectors must report back to the Security Council by January 27. The United States has said that if Iraq fails to disclose its weapons of mass destruction program and fully disarm, it will lead a coalition to disarm Iraqi President Saddam Hussein through military force. • U.S. experts were examining the dossier after the Security Council president gave the United States an unedited copy -- a switch from an earlier decision that inspectors would analyze the document and excise parts relating to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction before passing it along to Security Council members. • Iraq accused the United States of "unprecedented blackmail" in obtaining the unedited copy. White House officials called the Iraqi statement "ludicrous." (Full story) • After behind-the-scenes discussions, the current Security Council president, Colombian U.N. Ambassador Alfonso Valdivieso, said the council had decided to provide full copies to its five permanent members, all of which are declared nuclear powers. • The U.S. copy was taken to a secure location in Washington, where officials made copies for Britain, France, Russia and China, the council's four other permanent members, a State Department source said. • A nine-page table of contents said the dossier could identify countries or firms that supplied Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs. • In a letter accompanying the declaration, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said its publication "entails risk" of releasing information that violates nonproliferation standards. Is Iraq's declaration on its weapons of mass destruction programs truthful? Will the United States use the declaration as a basis for military action? Hans Blix -- Chief U.N. weapons inspector and head of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, or UNMOVIC, whose inspectors are looking at Iraq's chemical and biological weapons sites. Mohamed ElBaradei -- director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose inspectors are looking at Iraq's nuclear sites. Naji Sabri -- Iraqi foreign minister George W. Bush -- U.S. president Saddam Hussein -- Iraqi president
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