Syria: No Iraqi weapons here
From correspondents in Damascus
January 26, 2004
SYRIA today strongly denied charges by the former head of the US-led
coalition's search for alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction that parts had
been moved to Syria in the run-up to the war.
The accusations by David Kay, the recently replaced head of the Iraq Survey
Group, in Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper were "baseless deception and
lies", said Information Minister Ahmad al-Hassan.
"The aim is to cover up their failure to find any weapons of mass destuction,
the pretext they advanced for going to war," he said.
Taking up charges already levelled by Washington, Kay said in what was billed
as an exclusive interview with the British weekly that part of Saddam Hussein's
secret weapons program had been transferred from Iraq to neighbouring Syria,
and its status had yet to be resolved.
"We are not talking about a large stockpile of weapons," Kay was quoted as
saying.
"But we know from some of the interrogations of former Iraqi officials that a
lot of material went to Syria before the war, including some components of
Saddam's WMD programs.
"Precisely what went to Syria, and what has happened to it, is a major issue
that needs to be resolved."
Kay stepped down on Friday as leader of the Iraq Survey Group, which 10 months
after the US and British invasion of Iraq has yet to find any of Saddam's
feared weapons of mass destruction.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday it was an "open question" as
to whether Iraq still had such weapons, but he argued that pre-war intelligence
was correct about Saddam's intention to develop them.
Agence France-Presse
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