US misses key deadline for chemical weapons destruction

WASHINGTON (AFP) Sep 04, 2003
The United States acknowledged late Wednesday it will miss -- by more than three years -- an important international deadline for destroying its arsenal of chemical weapons.

The US Defense Department said in a statement it will not to able to liquidate 45 percent of its chemical stockpile by April 29, 2004, as required by the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention.

"The United States is therefore requesting the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) grant an extension of the 45 percent destruction deadline," the statement said.

The military is now expected to be ready to reach the required milestone by December 2007, the Pentagon said.

No detailed explanation for the postponement was given. But the department pointed out that its chemical demilitarization program "has had several delays due to unresolved political and operational issues that forced operational shutdowns or postponed start-up dates."

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