A U.S. link to weapons?

COMBINED DISPATCHES
UNITED NATIONS -- Iraq's 12,000-page declaration of its weapons program.s contains lists of American companies that provided materials that helped Baghdad develop chemical and biological weapons in the 1980s, according to a senior Iraqi official.
The public release of such a list could prove embarrassing for the United States and highlight the extent to which the Reagan and first Bush administrations supported Iraq in its eight-year war with neighboring Iran in the 1980s. U.S. military and financial assistance to Iraq continued until Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in August 1990.
The Iraqi official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, would not name the companies or discuss how much detail the Iraqi declaration provides about them. The official said the American companies are named along with other foreign companies that provided arms and ingredients for making chemical and biological weapons to Iraq.
The declaration, which was submitted to U.N. weapons inspectors Saturday, was mandated under a tough new Security Council resolution that requires Iraq to declare and destroy all of its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Iraqi leaders insist they no longer have any such weapons, but the United States and Britain accuse Saddam of continuing with a secret program to develop banned weapons and have threatened to go to war to disarm the Iraqi regime.
Blix's intentions
Hans Blix, the chief U.N. weapons inspector, said that he does not intend to release the names of foreign companies that provided material to Iraq. He said such companies could be valuable to U.N. inspectors as sources of information about Iraq's weapons program, and they would be unlikely to cooperate if they were publicly identified.
If the inspectors "were to give the names publicly, then they would never get another foreign supplier to give them any information," Blix told reporters at the United Nations.
List of scientists
Iraq also plans to turn over the names of hundreds of scientists who may be able to disclose hidden arms, but only when U.N. inspectors formally request the names, a top Iraqi military leader said Thursday.
"This is a theoretical question indeed," Lt. Gen. Hossam Mohammed Amin said when asked by reporters why Iraq has yet to comply with U.N. Security Council demands to give inspectors the list.
"We are preparing the names," he said. "We could deliver it at any time they request. We didn't receive a letter from them."
Next move for U.S.
Meanwhile, Iraq's 12,000-page weapons declaration does not account for a number of missing chemical and biological weapons and fails to explain purchases U.S. intelligence believes are related to Saddam's nuclear program, U.S. officials said.
The tentative U.S. conclusion that the report is lacking sets the stage for a critical set of decisions by President Bush, who views the declaration as Saddam's last chance to come clean, officials said.
Bush's options include providing American intelligence on suspected weapons programs to U.N. inspectors or helping the world body attempt to prove that Saddam is lying, which was required under a U.S.-backed U.N. resolution that also forced inspectors back into Iraq after a four-year lapse, the officials said, speaking only on condition of anonymity.
Bush could also simply seek more information from Iraq, a route White House officials said earlier Thursday the president would not take.
After a more thorough review of the declaration, the president also could declare that Saddam was in "material breach" of the resolution, and that war was required to disarm him, officials said.
The latter step, favored by hard-liners in the administration, likely would be condemned by U.S. allies who want proof that Saddam is a threat.
Preliminary assessments
The United States and Russia turned in their preliminary assessments Thursday to Blix and ElBaradei Mohamed of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Three other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- Britain, France and China -- are supposed to provide their assessments as well by today
Blix and ElBaradei then will remove sensitive sections of the declaration and distribute copies Monday to the 10 other members of the council.
That information will not be given to the 10 other countries under an agreement reached by the Bush administration with the United Nations.
Blix is due to report to the Security Council on Thursday.
Under the terms of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441, false statements or omissions in the declaration -- coupled with a failure to comply with inspections -- would be a "material breach" of Iraq's obligations. Newly admitted weapons inspectors have not publicly accused Iraq of obstructing their efforts.
Inspectors delayed
The weapons inspectors were delayed two hours today while trying to enter an inspection site, requiring the team to use its hotline to contact higher Baghdad authorities for the first time since visits resumed last month.
The inspection team was allowed into the building, Iraq's Communicable Disease Control Center, but was initially unable to enter several locked rooms. Team members had to wait two hours to enter the rooms until Amin, their Iraqi liaison, arrived and let them in.
"It is a newly declared site and there was a need for tagging of some of its equipment," Amin, head of Iraq's National Monitoring Directorate, told reporters outside the building. "There is no problem."
Another Iraqi official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the problem was the result of the inspections taking place today, the Muslim day of prayer, when the keys for the locked rooms were not readily available.
Today's inspections marked the first time the U.N. teams have been in the field on the Muslim day off since returning to work Nov. 27 after a four-year break.
The inspectors subsequently sealed the doors against their being opened when the U.N. teams were not present.
A team of inspectors also visited the Ibn Al-Haithem Company, which Iraqi officials would only describe as an industrial facility for the military six miles north of Baghdad.
'Just a lie'
On Thursday, Amin said the new round of U.N. weapons inspections had disproved "groundless" allegations by Western intelligence agencies that 10 Iraqi sites may be helping to produce banned weapons.
He called the intelligence reports "just a lie." The inspectors have not yet issued their findings, however, from visits to the 10 installations.
At a news conference, Amin also was asked about an unconfirmed U.S. report that an Iraqi chemical weapon was delivered to an Islamic extremist group affiliated with Al-Qaida.
"This is really a ridiculous assumption from the American administration," he said.
The general, the Iraqi government's chief liaison to the inspectors, spoke with reporters after a day in which the greatly reinforced corps of U.N. monitors -- quadrupled to 100 this week -- observed a test launch of a short-range Iraqi missile to verify it does not exceed U.N. range limits, and paid unannounced visits to a half-dozen other sites.
Interviewing scientists
While expanding their searches, inspectors are moving deliberately on the sensitive issue of how to quiz scientists who worked on Iraq's weapons programs.
They fear for scientists' safety from retribution by Saddam, who has a history of intolerance when it comes to disclosure.
The Bush administration criticized the United Nations recently for going too slowly. Two weeks into inspections, scientists have mostly have been interviewed only at sites being combed by the U.N. teams.
The White House suspects that some of Iraq's brightest minds could detail the status of the country's alleged weapons of mass destruction.
Sounding much like a U.N. spokesman, Amin detailed the status of inspections as if Iraq were leading the operation instead of being taken by surprise most mornings.
"We appreciate the professionalism of the inspectors," he said. "They are doing their work in a professional way."
Iraqis are closely following the inspectors. They photograph most of the inspections, record U.N. interviews and take soil and water samples from the same places as U.N. inspectors.
Amin indicated Thursday that Iraq is not eager to cooperate. The Security Council set no deadline for Iraq to comply.