ACCESSION NUMBER:00000

FILE ID:97061002.NNE

DATE:06/10/97

TITLE:10-06-97  EKEUS: WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION OF HIGHER VALUE TO IRAQ THAN OIL



TEXT:

(Outgoing UNSCOM chairman urges continued vigilance) (480)

By Rick Marshall

USIA Staff Writer



Washington -- Why would Iraq willingly forego six years' worth of oil

revenues -- approximately $120 billion -- rather than cooperate with

the United Nations Security Council resolutions and reveal the extent

of its weapons of mass destruction programs?



The answer, according to Rolf Ekeus, the outgoing executive chairman

of the U.N. Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM), is that to the Iraqi

leadership the country's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons

programs are "of much higher value" than the revenue they would have

gained from selling oil.



It is precisely these weapons of mass destruction which could have

made Iraq "a major regional power," a dominant force in the Gulf and

thus in the world's energy supplies, the Swedish diplomat told an

overflow audience at a conference hosted by the Carnegie Endowment

June 10.



"The weapons give you power, sweet, wonderful power," Ekeus said in an

address that looked back at UNSCOM's achievements over the past six

years. In July, Ekeus will retire to become ambassador to the United

States. His place will be taken by Richard Butler, currently

Australia's permanent representative to the U.N.



Ekeus recounted how he came to the job in April 1991, shortly after

the Gulf War ended. The plan was simple, he said, get Iraq to reveal

its weapons programs and comply with the U.N. resolutions. It seemed

logical to him that Iraq would see its own interests and cooperate, so

that it could resume its oil production quickly.



But the reality Ekeus and his inspectors found was different, a series

of threats, falsifications and outright lies.



Now six years later, the results of what UNSCOM found still seem

staggering: a full biological weapons program, complete with "major

production" facilities, bombs, munitions, and delivery systems. This

program was apparently kept such a secret that even Tariq Aziz, then

the country's deputy prime minister, was not aware of it.



UNSCOM also found that Iraq was working on a new "strategic" chemical

weapons capability, building on the existing chemical weapons the

country had used in the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s.



While it was known that Iraq had imported Scud missiles before the

Gulf War, much less was known about the "17/28" program, which focused

on producing "homemade" Scuds. This was part of Iraq's program to

produce missiles with a range from 300 to 600 kilometers capable of

carrying nuclear, biological and chemical warheads.



While Ekeus believes that UNSCOM has accounted for "practically all"

of Iraq's Scuds and "neutralized" its chemical weapons programs, he

remains concerned about the need to continue monitoring Iraqi weapons

of mass destruction programs extremely closely.



"It is very important the international community and especially the

(UN) Security Council understand how important it is," Ekeus said.

"Awareness and attention are the most powerful tools."

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