Blix ponders deadline on missiles

Chief United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix is weighing whether to set a deadline for Iraq to destroy its proscribed Al Samoud 2 missiles, recognising that Saddam Hussain's negative response could be the event that triggers war, according to UN and U.S. officials.

Blix is expected to send a letter to Baghdad by this weekend in which he will call for destruction of the liquid-fueled missiles, some of which have already been provided to Iraqi army units preparing for a possible invasion by U.S.-led coalition forces, officials said.

"The discussions today were on setting an artificial time line of when destruction should begin and end," one UN official said on Thursday. Among the issues being discussed was how much time Saddam should be given to comply.

In the discussions, Blix and his colleagues recognize that Iraq's refusal to destroy the missiles "would constitute the most direct and visible defiance of the United Nations since inspections resumed," the UN official added.

Blix's UN Monitoring, Verific-ation and Inspection Commission (Unmovic) operates under resolutions that prohibit Iraq from possessing missiles with ranges that exceed 150 km. Such missiles, along with components and associated manufacturing equipment, are to be destroyed or made unusable for weapons making, the resolutions say.

Blix told the Security Council on February 14 that his experts unanimously believe the Al Samoud 2 is in violation of the range limit; Iraqi officials have asked for more technical talks to prove that with new guidance systems the missiles would remain within the limit. Blix, in turn, has told colleagues his decision was final and there would be no more discussions.

The previous UN inspectors, during their time in Iraq from 1991 to 1998, followed different practices when it came to ordering destruction of Iraq weaponry and the equipment used to make them.

"In the beginning, destruction was immediate or very rapid," according to former UN inspector Timothy McCarthy, a Senior Analyst at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) and director of the centre's Proliferation Research and Assessment.

"There were negotiations about disposition of equipment, but ultimately we destroyed whatever we wanted. At no time was there an item that we wished to destroy that we didn't destroy."

The previous inspectors, working for the UN Special Commission (Unscom), questioned the Russian-made SA2 rocket engine being planned for what became the Al Samoud and tentatively declared it forbidden before they were forced to leave Iraq in December 1998.

"The larger design (that Blix has identified) was absolutely prohibited by Unscom," McCarthy said on Thursday. Iraq nonetheless purchased at least 380 more SA2 rocket engines, which Blix has now placed under seal and declared proscribed along with the completed, deployed missiles.

At the White House on Thursday, Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters that Iraq's initial indication "that it will not destroy the Al Samoud 2 missiles" had created a "situation on the ground (that) is not good, which is a cause for concern."