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COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION CENTRE
FACTS ABOUT IRAQ Saddam’s Disclosure Games |
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Under UNSCR 687 - UN Special Commission and the
International Atomic Energy Agency were given the remit to designate any
locations for inspection at any time, review any document and
interview any scientist, technician or other individual and seize any
prohibited items for destruction.
UNSCR 687 stated that Iraq had to give “full, final and complete
disclosures” to its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles with a range
over 150 kilometers.
To date they
have given:
·
3 full, final and complete disclosures with regard to ballistic
missiles;
·
3 full, final and complete disclosures with regard to chemical
weapons; and
·
5 full, final and complete disclosures with regard to biological
weapons.
3 Apr 1991
U.N. Security Council Resolution 687 (1991), Section C, declares that Iraq
shall accept unconditionally, under international supervision, the "destruction,
removal or rendering harmless" of its weapons of mass destruction and
ballistic missiles with a range over 150 kilometers. Requires
Iraq to make a declaration, within 15 days, of the location, amounts, and types
of all such items.
10 Apr 1991
Iraq accepts Resolution 687.
18 Apr 1991
Iraq provides initial declaration
required under Resolution 687. This declaration includes some chemical
weapons and materials and 53 Al-Hussein and Scud type surface-to-surface
ballistic missiles. Iraq declares it has no biological weapons program.
16 May 1991
Iraq submits revised declarations covering
additional chemical weapons and a refinement of its missile declaration.
May 1991
Through an exchange of letters between U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Iraqi
Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz,
Iraq accepts the privileges and
immunities of the Special Commission (UNSCOM) and its personnel. These
guarantees include the right of "unrestricted freedom of entry and exit
without delay or hindrance of its personnel, property, supplies, equipment
..."
9 Jun 1991
UNSCOM conducts its first chemical weapons inspection.
17 Jun 1991
The Security Council adopts Resolution 699, which confirms that the Special
Commission and the IAEA have the authority to conduct activities under section
C of Resolution 687.
30 Jun 1991
UNSCOM
conducts its first missile inspection.
2 Aug 1991
UNSCOM conducts its first biological weapons inspection.
15 Aug 1991
The Security Council adopts Resolution 707, demanding that Iraq immediately
provide full, final and complete
disclosures (FFCDs), as required by Resolution
687.
19 Mar 1992
Iraq declares the existence of 89 previously undeclared ballistic missiles,
chemical weapons and associated material. Iraq claims that it unilaterally
destroyed most of these undeclared items in the summer of 1991, in violation of
Resolution 687.
May 1992
Iraq provides its first FFCDs for its prohibited biological and missile programs. Iraq says it had only a defensive
biological weapons program.
Jun 1992
Iraq provides its first FFCD for its
prohibited chemical weapons program.
Mar 1995
Iraq provides the second FFCD of its
prohibited biological and chemical
weapons programs.
Aug 1995
Iraq provides
the third FFCD for its prohibited biological weapons program.
8 Aug 1995
General Hussein Kamel,
Minister of Industry and Minerals and formerly Director of Iraq's Military
Industrialization Corporation with responsibility for all of Iraq's weapons
programs, leaves Iraq for Jordan.
Iraq says that
Hussein Kamel had hidden important information on the
prohibited weapons programs from UNSCOM and the IAEA.
Iraq withdraws its third biological FFCD and
admits a far more extensive prohibited biological weapons program
than previously admitted, including weaponization.
Iraq also admits greater progress in its efforts
to indigenously produce long-range
missiles than it had previously declared.
Iraq provides
UNSCOM and the IAEA with large amounts of documentation related to its
prohibited weapons programs which subsequently leads to further Iraqi disclosures concerning its production of the nerve agent VX and its development of a nuclear
weapon.
Nov 1995
Iraq provides second FFCD on its
prohibited missile program.
Nov 1995
The government of Jordan intercepts a large shipment of high-grade missile components destined for Iraq.
Iraq denies
that it had sought to purchase these components, while acknowledging that some
of them were in Iraq. An UNSCOM investigation concludes that Iraqi authorities
and missile facilities have been involved in acquiring sophisticated guidance and control components for proscribed
missiles.
22 Jun 1996
Iraq provides the fourth FFCD of its
prohibited biological weapons
program.
Jun 1996
Iraq provides third FFCD of its
prohibited chemical weapons program.
Jul 1996
Iraq provides the third FFCD of its
prohibited missile program.
Sep 1997
Iraq provides a fifth FFCD for its
prohibited biological weapons
program.
Oct 1997
UNSCOM completes the destruction of additional large quantities of chemical
weapons, related equipment, and precursor chemicals. Iraq had previously denied
that some of the equipment had been used for chemical weapons production. Iraq
admitted in May 1997, following an UNSCOM investigation, that some of the
equipment had been used in the production of VX.
Early Feb 1998
A group of international experts and UNSCOM inspectors conduct two technical
evaluation meetings (TEM) in Baghdad, reviewing Iraq’s VX and missile warhead
programs.
The report
submitted to the Security Council states the group’s unanimous conclusion that Iraq has still not provided sufficient
information for the commission to conclude that Iraq had undertaken all the
disarmament steps required of it in these areas. The commission’s experts brief
the Council on the outcome of these two TEMs in March
1998.
8 Apr 1998
The report of the biological weapons technical evaluation meeting is
transmitted to the council. Following this TEM, experts unanimously conclude that Iraq’s declaration on its biological weapons
program is incomplete and inadequate.
5 Aug 1998
The Revolutionary Command Council and the Ba’ath
Party Command decide to stop cooperating with UNSCOM and the IAEA until the Security
Council agrees to lift the oil embargo as a first step towards ending
sanctions.
Source:
Derived from an October 1998 UNSCOM document