Iraqis to destroy missiles today

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq agreed Friday to begin destroying its Al Samoud 2 missiles within 24 hours, Iraqi sources said. Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix, who set the deadline for today, called the decision "a very significant piece of real disarmament."

The destruction of the finned white rockets is seen as a key test of Baghdad's resolve to disarm and avert a U.S.-led war. Predictably, the 11th-hour concession was greeted with celebration by governments opposed to war and skepticism by those advocating it.

At the White House, spokesman Ari Fleischer dismissed the idea that the Iraqi move reflected progress. "This is the deception the president predicted.

"We do expect that they will destroy at least some of their missiles," he said. But President Bush won't settle for anything less than full disarmament, Fleischer added, without specifying what that would mean.

Iraqi sources in the capital, speaking on condition of anonymity, said destruction of the missiles would start today.

"We have accepted destruction of those missiles, although they do not constitute a serious violation of the U.N. resolutions, but we want to remove any pretext that there may be to wage aggression against Iraq," Iraq's deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, told delegates to a conference in Mexico City by telephone.

European governments opposed to war said Iraq's decision on the missiles reinforced their opinion that weapons inspections were weakening Saddam Hussein's military capabilities.

"It is an important step in the process of the peaceful disarmament of Iraq," French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said. "It confirms that inspectors are getting results."

In New York, a deeply divided U.N. Security Council was considering a U.S.-backed resolution that would authorize war, as well as a French-led proposal to continue with inspections. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Russia would veto the U.S.-backed resolution if needed to preserve "international stability."

Blix ordered Iraq to begin destroying the missiles by today after examining 40 test flights. In 13 of them, the missile flew farther than the 93-mile limit set by U.N. resolutions after the 1991 Gulf War. In 27 test flights, the missile flew below the limit.

Critical report

But in a report written before Iraq agreed to eliminate the rockets, Blix told the Security Council that Baghdad must provide much more evidence about its chemical, biological and missile programs.

The 13-page report, delivered Friday, criticized Baghdad for missing an opportunity to clear up issues about its weapons programs in its 12,000-page declaration submitted Dec. 7, saying it provided "little new substantive information."

He stressed that he still needs documents, physical evidence or testimony by individuals who took part in Iraq's weapons programs to answer unresolved issues.

Iraq maintains some missiles overshot the limit only because they were tested without warheads or guidance systems. It called the decision unjust and appealed for technical discussions with U.N. inspectors.

Blix's chief deputy, Demetrius Perricos, held those discussions Friday night, Iraqi sources said. He was to hold more today, "with a view to commencing the destruction process" the same day, inspectors' spokesman Hiro Ueki said.

"It is a very significant piece of real disarmament," Blix said.

Iraq is believed to have between 100 and 120 of the missiles, and U.N. inspectors say it has continued to produce and test them this week. Although still in development and relatively unreliable, inspectors say some of the missiles have been deployed to military units.

The Feb. 21 order said Iraq must destroy the missiles, their unassembled components, fuel, engines, launchers and software. The program that created the missiles also must go -- its scientists dispersed and its records wiped out.

U.S. analysts worry that if Iraq is still hiding chemical and biological weapons, it could load them on the Al Samoud 2 to target U.S. forces deployed in the Persian Gulf region, now 225,000 strong.

Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have threatened war, saying Iraq has failed to comply fully with U.N. disarmament resolutions.

Blair also greeted Iraq's announcement with skepticism, recalling suggestions by Saddam earlier in the week that he might not comply.

"The moment I heard ... that Saddam Hussein was saying he would not destroy the missiles was the moment that I knew later in the week that he would announce -- just before Dr. Blix reported -- that he would indeed destroy these missiles," Blair said at a news conference in Spain.

Blair said Saddam still must account for the thousands of tons of "biological and chemical poison" he said Iraq possessed when U.N. weapons inspectors left Iraq in 1998.

Iraq says it has destroyed all such weapons unilaterally, and has begun taking inspectors to disposal sites to prove it.