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United Nations weapons inspectors drove a short distance into the heart of the Iraqi capital on Monday to visit what is believed to be a military-industrial complex.
The fifth day of inspections brought the missile, biological and chemical experts to the al-Karamah complex in Baghdad -- surrounded by high walls topped with barbed wire and military guard posts.
Al-Karamah was hit during the coalition air strikes that marked the end of the last round of inspections four years ago.
UN weapons inspectors looked around a run-down airfield and a military industrial area Sunday, the fourth day in the search for evidence that the Iraqis may be producing chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
The UN Security Council has told Iraq it must comply with resolution 1441 demanding it give up any nuclear, chemical or biological weapons efforts or face serious consequences, and President George W. Bush has said the United States will act to disarm Iraq if diplomatic efforts fail.
The inspections began on November 27 under the UN resolution that also requires Iraq to declare all its chemical/biological and nuclear programs -- both military and civilian -- to the United Nations by December 8.
International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Mohammed ElBaradei said on Sunday that he believed the Iraqis intended to provide a complete report of their weapons program by that date, but may need more time for the civilian portion of its chemical and biological weapons systems.
"In the Security Council, there is understanding that if Hans Blix ... were to be approached by the Iraqis that they need a little extra time for the civilian activities, the Security Council might give them a little bit extra time," he said on CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer.
Blix is the head of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, which is charged with seeking evidence of Iraqi biological or chemical weapons programs. The IAEA is in charge of investigating Iraq's nuclear weapons development program.
ElBaradei emphasized that the Iraqis must be painstaking in the report due on December 8.
"They have to come with every piece of evidence that they have, when did the program start, how it was developed and how it came to an end and support that with as much documentation as possible," he said.
ElBaradei said the first four days of inspections had gone smoothly, and that the inspectors have seen nothing suspect.
"What we have seen so far is that the facilities are not used for weapons programs," he said.
An IAEA team visited Ibn Firnas, an Iraqi military industrial site northwest of Baghdad as the UNMOVIC team combed an air base at Khan Beni-Saad, 21 miles (35 km) north of Baghdad, where cropdusters were housed.
The military site -- at Rashidia, four miles (7 km) from the Iraqi capital -- had been listed in a U.S. document as a testing facility where a gas centrifuge system had been used for enriching uranium.
A 15-member UNMOVIC team spent four and a half hours Sunday combing for evidence of biological weapons at Khan Beni-Saad. Inspectors checked computers, took samples from aircraft fuel tanks, inspected crop spraying helicopters and looked over equipment at the airbase, which had been tagged in earlier inspections.
Iraq long ago admitted it had used the airbase in 1988 to test a device called Al-Zubaidy, a canister for dispersing biological agents from an aircraft.
Inspectors went directly into the site and the Iraqis then shut the gate. A UN jeep was posted at the entrance of the site to prevent anyone from entering or exiting. One of the journalists saw an inspector wearing protective clothing.
Reporters outside the gate said they could see disused helicopters and tanker trucks.
Montadhar Radheef Mohamed, director of the airfield, explained the helicopters were not being used because international sanctions prevent Iraq from spraying all of its crops.
While the inspectors were at the facility, at least a dozen trucks carrying corn arrived and parked outside until they could be allowed in to unload.
The truck drivers said corn was dumped at the facility, dried and stored, and then taken to a factory, where it is processed into animal food. The farmers waited outside the facility for several hours, while the UNMOVIC inspectors finished their work.
(China Daily December 2, 2002)
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