An Iraqi general who is a senior adviser to President Saddam Hussein challenged the United States and Britain Sunday to produce any evidence they have that Baghdad still has any weapons of mass destruction or programs to develop them.
However, the top general firmly implied that US intelligence has been right in contending that Iraq came close to building at least one Nagasaki-sized atom bomb by the year 1991, at the time of the Gulf war, according to the New York Times.
In its Monday edition, the Times reported that the Iraqi officer, General Amir al-Saadi, said at a news conference that Iraq's 12,000-page declaration to the UN Security Council denying any banned weapons or programs was "entirely accurate."
General Saadi implied that US President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair would be shown to have no hard evidence. "We hope they will be investigating, that it will satisfy them, because it's entirely accurate, it's truthful," General Saadi said, referring to the Iraqi declaration.
"If they have anything to the contrary, let them come up with it to the Security Council," General Saadi said. "Why play this game?" the Iraqi top aide asked.
"We don't understand the rush to judgment," he said. "A superpower should study and take its time in judging, especially as everyone is looking on it as it prepares for a huge military campaign, for an aggression against Iraq. It should behave wisely." (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
