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Chemical weapons hidden in civilian industry
05/02/2003 19:13 - (SA)
New York - Iraq has hidden key elements of its illicit chemical weapons programme inside its mammoth civilian petrochemical industry, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Wednesday.
"We know that Iraq has embedded key portions of its illicit chemical weapons infrastructure within its legitimate civilian industry," Powell told a packed meeting of the UN security council.
"To all outward appearances, even to experts, the infrastructure looks like an ordinary civilian operation," Powell said.
"Illicit and legitimate production can go on simultaneously; or, on a dime, this dual-use infrastructure can turn from clandestine to commercial and then back again."
Iraq is one of the world's largest oil exporters and runs a vast and highly complex petrochemical industry, about which chief weapons inspector Hans Blix acknowledged that Baghdad would be unable to make a full declaration. - Sapa-AFP
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