Iraq mounted a fresh challenge today to US claims it has been deceiving UN weapons inspectors and promoting terrorism, dismissing the allegations as concoctions meant to lay the ground for an attack on Baghdad.
Iraqi officials called a press conference for the second straight night to refute a litany of charges issued by US Secretary of State Colin Powell at the UN Security Council yesterday.
Amid accusations Iraq was threatening its scientists with death if they spoke alone to the UN inspectors, the first Iraqi scientist sat down to be interviewed today without the presence of a government monitor, Iraqi presidential advisor Mr Amer al-Saadi told reporters.
"One of the BW (biological weapons) scientists is now giving an interview privately," said Mr Saadi, a science advisor to President Saddam Hussein.
A United Nations spokesman confirmed that the scientist had agreed to be interviewed in private and said the encounter had been scheduled to start at 7 p.m. (4 p.m. Irish time).
Repeatedly, UN inspectors have sought to speak privately with Iraqi scientists having knowledge of the country's weapons programs since they arrived in the country on November 25 after a four-year period without any inspections.
Until today , however, no scientist had agreed to meet with inspectors in the absence of a government official.
Mr Powell yesterday charged that Saddam Hussein had threatened his scientists with death if they revealed sensitive information to the inspectors.
Iraqi officials vigorously denied the charge. They also insisted they had no objections to private interviews but said they could not force scientists to agree to such encounters.
Iraq also denied that it had any links to Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, identified by Mr Powell as a key member of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terror network.
Mr Saadi said Iraq had been "heartened" by the response of other countries that refused to be influenced by Powell's remarks.
Powell's 90-minute presentation notably failed to alter the positions of Russia, China and France, whose UN representatives all argued that inspectors should be given more time in Iraq.
Mr Powell's presentation, Mr Saadi maintained, was "intended mainly for the uninformed to persuade them for war preparations and to undermine the UN bodies" charged with implementing United Nations disarmament resolutions.
Mr Saadi added that Iraq would also provide the Security Council with a detailed, written refutation of Powell's accusations, "point by point".
AFP