Baghdad, Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- United Nations inspectors in Baghdad will test Iraq's declaration it is willing to destroy its Al Samoud missiles, the UN said. Demetrius Perricos, the deputy executive chairman of the UN's monitoring agency, will ask Iraqi leaders in Baghdad to clarify a statement sent to the UN yesterday saying Iraq agrees to a UN demand the missiles be destroyed. The U.S. government said the statement isn't a sign Iraq is cooperating. ``This is exactly what's been going on for years,'' Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in Washington. ``They refuse to cooperate, don't cooperate, drag it out, wait till someone finally nails them with one little piece of whole puzzle.'' Iraq's response to the UN demand to begin destroying the missiles by Saturday will test its assertion it is cooperating with UN resolutions. The Security Council is divided over whether force is now needed to make Iraq disarm. The U.S. and the U.K. have about 225,000 troops in the Persian Gulf ready to take military action.
Amir al-Saadi, a senior adviser to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, said in a letter faxed to Hans Blix, the chief UN arms inspector, Iraq agrees in principle to accept the request for the missiles to be destroyed. Blix said the Al Samoud missiles exceed the 150-kilometer (93-mile) range permitted by the UN. ``Perricos is in Baghdad to receive any further clarification from the Iraqi side and to establish the procedure for the destruction, which would be carried out by Iraq under the (monitoring) commission's supervision,'' the UN said on its Web site.
Iraqi Deception
U.S. President George W. Bush said yesterday Iraq's pledge was part of a ``campaign of deception'' by Hussein. ``The only question at hand is total, complete disarmament, which (Hussein) is refusing to do,'' he said. The 15 Security Council members yesterday discussed a draft resolution by the U.S. and U.K. saying Iraq has missed its last opportunity to cooperate and a separate proposal, supported by France, China and Russia, for UN inspections to continue. Nine votes are needed on the Council to pass a resolution. The five permanent members, the U.S., U.K., France, China and Russia, have veto powers. Russia would use its veto in the Security Council to maintain world peace, Agence France-Presse cited Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov as saying during a visit to China. ``If needed, and under the conditions of maintaining world peace, Russia will use its veto,'' Ivanov said. He didn't specifically refer to the crisis with Iraq.
Going in Circles
Council members went ``around in circles'' during yesterday's three-hour meeting in which the ambassadors couldn't even agree on a date to hear next from arms inspectors, including Blix, Russian Deputy Ambassador Gennady Gatilov said. While the inspectors are still scheduled to report to the Council next week, a date probably won't be set before Monday. The discussion ``showed very clearly that the majority of members think the time has not yet come to go to war,'' French Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said yesterday. Jeremy Greenstock, the U.K.'s ambassador, said inspectors haven't reported any incidents where Iraq gave ``immediate, unconditional and active compliance.'' The report Blix will deliver will say Iraq's cooperation on substantive issues has been ``very limited so far,'' according to a copy of the draft obtained by Bloomberg News. ``During the period of time covered by this report, Iraq could have made greater efforts to find remaining proscribed items or credible evidence showing the absence of such items,'' the report will say. The U.S. and U.K. will call on the Security Council to vote on their resolution about two weeks after Blix's report. //www.quote.bloomberg.com