US military officials refused a 13-member international delegation from the anti-war group, Rooting Out Evil, to an army base in Maryland yesterday, after the group asked for permission to carry out an inspection for illegal weapons of mass destruction (WMD) at the site.
The delegation, made up of politicians, scientists, academics, religious and union leaders from Canada, the US, Britain, Italy and Denmark were denied access to the site at Edgewood Chemical Biological Centre, after army officials said they lacked the proper accreditation.
The team had made a formal request to the US Defense Department on February 17th for authorisation to enter the site to inspect it for WMD.
The group charges that biological and chemical weapons, including ricin and anthrax are developed and stored at Edgewood in breach of international chemical and biological conventions.
According to a statement on the Rooting Out Evilwebsite, the US was selected as the first priority for weapons inspections "based on criteria provided by the Bush administration.
"According to those criteria, the most dangerous states are those run by leaders who have massive stockpiles of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons; ignore due process at the United Nations; refuse to sign and honour international treaties; and have come to power through illegitimate means.
"The current US administration fulfills all these criteria," the group says. "And so, again following Bush's guidelines, Rooting Out Evilis demanding that his administration allow immediate and unfettered access to international weapons inspectors to search out their caches of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons."
After being asked by military officials to leave the site, British MP and leader of Labour Against the WarAlan Simpson said: "Had this inspection taken place in Iraq, and had we been denied access to such a site, President Bush would have declared material breach of Resolution 1441 and authorised war on Iraq."
According to the group, their delegation was met by "heavily-armed security and a public relations officer from the base".
Army spokeswoman Major Amy Hannah confirmed that the US Department of Defence had received a letter from the group. "We heard their concerns," she told reporters.
The letter, addressed to the US Secretary of Defense Doland Rumsfeld, "will be forwarded to the higher headquarters," she said. "It was all very peaceful. It was very cordial."
Additional reporting AFP
