http://sg.news.yahoo.com/030307/3/38p33.html
Saturday March 8, 06:01 AM
"Proof" that Iraq sought uranium was fake
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The head of the U.N. nuclear agency has shot down allegations that Iraq tried to revive its nuclear arms programme and says fake documents back U.S. claims Baghdad tried to buy uranium to make bombs.
In what some believe was his last update report to the U.N. Security Council on weapons inspections in Iraq, International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei undermined Washington's position just as it scrambles for support for a U.N. resolution paving the way for war in Iraq.
"Based on thorough analysis, the IAEA has concluded ... that these documents, which formed the basis for the reports of recent uranium transactions between Iraq and Niger, are in fact not authentic," ElBaradei told the U.N. Security Council on Friday.
"We have therefore concluded that these specific allegations are unfounded," he said.
Britain and the United States have alleged that Iraq had tried to revive an ambitious atomic weapons program that was neutralised by the United Nations before inspectors left in December 1998.
The claim Iraq had attempted to import the uranium was vital to the U.S. accusation, since it would not have needed the uranium for anything other than a nuclear weapons programme.
"After three months of intrusive inspections, we have to date found no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons programme in Iraq," he said.
To date, the IAEA's inspectors have carried out 218 inspections at 141 sites, he said.
THE TROUBLE WITH TUBES
ElBaradei said extensive investigations of high-strength aluminium tubes Iraq attempted to purchase had confirmed that they were not suitable for a uranium enrichment centrifuge programme, as the United States had alleged.
In his speech to the council, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell insisted that the IAEA should "keep the issue open" and said Iraq was also "found shopping for these tubes" in Europe.
But ElBaradei said a team of international centrifuge manufacturing experts believed Baghdad had told the truth about wanting them for rockets.
"Extensive field investigation and document analysis have failed to uncover any evidence that Iraq intended to use these 81mm tubes for any project other than the reverse engineering of rockets," he said.
Knocking down another U.S. allegation, ElBaradei said IAEA experts had concluded that none of Iraq's declared high- strength magnets could be used directly to enrich uranium.
But, ElBaradei added: "Iraq possesses the expertise to manufacture high-strength permanent magnets suitable for use in enrichment centrifuges."
For this reason, he said the IAEA would keep an eye out for equipment and materials that could be used to enrich uranium.
Baghdad has consistently denied it had attempted to revive its nuclear weapons program.
Echoing similar comments from chief U.N. arms inspector Hans Blix, the top nuclear inspector concluded his speech by saying Iraq had become more cooperative in recent weeks.
"I do hope that Iraq will continue to expand the scope and accelerate the pace of its cooperation," ElBaradei said.
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