Iraq: Nuclear site development is peaceful

Iraq insisted today that construction at a nuclear site was for peaceful research, continuing a campaign to prove it its enemies are lying to build a case for military action against Saddam Hussein.

Reporters were escorted to the site, al-Twaitha, 25 miles south of Baghdad. The site was destroyed twice, first by the Israelis in 1981 and then by the allies during the 1991 Gulf War, according to Iraqi officials.

It was the fifth such visits in four weeks. Iraqi authorities have taken reporters to what were described as a livestock vaccination laboratory, a complex of food warehouses, an insecticide plant and a fertiliser factory.

Critics say experts in chemical, biological or nuclear weapons programmes given unfettered access should be conducting the inspections.

The United States, with British support, accuses Saddam of possessing weapons of mass destruction and harbouring terrorism.

The head of a UN atomic weapons team said last week that satellite photos show new construction at several sites linked to Saddam’s past nuclear efforts.

French physicist Jacques Baute did not identify the sites. But Iraqi officials said today at least one was al-Twaitha.

“Blair and the British media have waged in the recent days a new media campaign saying that Iraq has reactivated and they have shown satellite photos saying that there are four facilities in this site conducting activities in the nuclear field,” said Saeed Al-Moussawi, a foreign ministry official who escorted journalists to al-Twaitha.

“These claims are full distortion of facts about these four buildings and there functions.”

Al-Moussawi claimed that the four new buildings were used for environmental, medical and agricultural research and “they are purely dedicated for peaceful purposes.”

The buildings were surrounded by rubble. Inside, workers operated lathes. Bags of mushrooms said to be used in agricultural research were scattered on the floor. Samples of what was described as kidney disease medicine were kept in a laboratory.

It was not clear when the four buildings were constructed. A fifth that also looked new but was not shown to the reporters appeared to be a warehouse.