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Iraq Survey Group Has Not Shared Information With U.N. Inspectors, U.N. Says By Mike Nartker WASHINGTON — The U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, which conducted weapons inspections in Iraq prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom, cannot verify WMD-related claims made by coalition weapons inspectors now operating in Iraq, according to an UNMOVIC report released yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 14). Since the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Iraq Survey Group, headed chief U.S. weapons inspector David Kay and consisting of coalition personnel, has been working in Iraq to uncover evidence of prewar Iraqi WMD stockpiles and related programs, which were cited by the Bush administration as a justification for invasion. In early October, Kay testified before the U.S. Congress that his unit had not found evidence of Iraqi WMD stockpiles, nor had it found evidence of actual biological weapons production or of active chemical and nuclear weapons programs. Kay did testify, though, that the Iraq Survey Group had found “dozens of WMD-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment” that had been concealed from UNMOVIC inspectors. For example, he cited the discovery of a “clandestine network” of laboratories operated by the Iraqi Intelligence Service that contained equipment capable of use in chemical and biological weapons research. In its latest quarterly report, however, UNMOVIC said that it has so far received no information on the Iraq Survey Group’s activities other than Kay’s publicly available testimony before Congress. “The actual report was not provided to UNMOVIC or to the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency],” says the commission report, which was submitted late last month. Without the actual report from the Iraq Survey Group, UNMOVIC said that it was “not in a position to properly assess” Kay’s findings — an assessment echoed today by commission spokesman Ewen Buchanan. “As a U.N. body, we shouldn’t be ‘best guessing,’” Buchanan told Global Security Newswire today. Without the actual documentation and materials used by the Iraq Survey Group to develop its assessments, UNMOVIC cannot determine if the unit has found evidence of previously unknown prohibited Iraqi WMD-related activities, Buchanan said. For example, Kay testified that his unit had discovered a network of laboratories that had never been declared to U.N. inspectors. Buchanan said, however, that laboratories in and of themselves did not need to be declared, only certain types of equipment that they might contain. Without the Iraq Survey Group’s documentation, UNMOVIC cannot determine if the equipment contained in the laboratories needed to be declared, Buchanan said. According to Buchanan, the United States and the United Kingdom are opposed to UNMOVIC involvement in the Iraq disarmament process. Buchanan described a recent exchange between a U.S. diplomat and a Russian diplomat, in which the Russian diplomat wondered why the United States had not provided UNMOVIC with the Iraq Survey Group’s actual report. The U.S. diplomat replied that while the United States was considering such an action, the time for doing so was not yet right, Buchanan said. A U.S official told GSN today that Kay’s testimony only dealt with an interim report prepared by the Iraq Survey Group, and when a final report is prepared, copies will be made available to all relevant parties. The official added that no deadline for a final report has yet been established. Yesterday’s UNMOVIC report also appeared to counter charges made by Kay in October concerning prewar Iraq’s ballistic missile efforts. In his congressional testimony, Kay said that his unit had found a “continuing covert capability” to manufacture propellant for banned Scud-type ballistic missiles. The Iraq Survey Group also found, according to Kay, evidence of prewar Iraqi efforts to develop missiles capable of traveling well beyond the U.N.-allowed range of 150 kilometers. In its report, however, UNMOVIC said that prior to withdrawing from Iraq in March, U.N. inspectors had found “no evidence” of the manufacture of Scud-specific missile fuel. The report also says that inspectors found no evidence of Iraqi efforts to modify the prohibited al-Samoud 2 missile to achieve a longer range. A U.N. spokesman said yesterday that the Security Council was scheduled to discuss the UNMOVIC report Monday.
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